Muddy Encounters
by greenphantomme
Summary: I always knew there was a chance something bad would happen when camping out for the Quidditch League Cup Final with cousins, especially with my luck. Yet even though I lost my family in the middle in a riot, got clubbed with a Beaters bat, and was entombed in mud, I considered it one of the best days of my life.
1. Chapter 1

It was a struggle to open my eyes. My head was pounding, such that I've never felt before. It was like I'd just had a lobotomy or some other intense surgical procedure.

Then I blacked out again.

The second time I came to, I was more lucid. My head was still pounding like the hounds from hell were trying to escape, but I was more aware of myself and my surroundings: dizziness; lying down; sticky wetness at my back; smells of sweat, blood, and refuse in the air. Then there were the screams off in the background.

That triggered my memory for whatever smells and sounds were around were associated with what I knew only too well: Quidditch. Despite the relentless pounding head, my senses all seemed to be in working order.

This _always_ happened to me. My family was going to take the piss out of me. _Can't even walk two steps without a roof collapsing. _How does my dad even let me out of the house?

Tentatively I raised my arms, pulling them against the mud they seemed to have settled in. They released with a squelching noise.

That caused a small exclamation of surprise from nearby.

"What the bloody hell!" a familiar voice exclaimed, though I couldn't place it at the moment. "Merlin's trundled pantaloons, there's a person right there!"

Me previous efforts were for naught. My arms sort of just gave out on me and resettled in the mud. For some reason my body didn't seem to have the energy to do anything. Squelching of the mud was heard as footsteps started approaching my direction.

I didn't move from my mud bed, too weak to not focus on the pounding that reverberated through my skull.

As soon as the head popped in my field of view, I realised why the voice was familiar. Blonde straggly hair hung in his face, damp from the rain that had apparently finished falling not too long ago, brilliant green eyes were bright in the fading sun, high cheekbones creating contours on his face with shadows emphasised by the whiskers present, and tall as he towered over my bedraggled self.

He was wearing robes from the Kenmare Kestrels, recent losers in the Quidditch League Cup Final and the ones who had started rioting immediately post game. Apparently they were bitter that the Chudley Cannons had beaten them for the first time in 107 years. _Let's start a riot and knock people out for fun_ was their new slogan. Clearly I was a bit bitter at my predicament.

"Scorpius bloody Malfoy," I said when my shock at seeing him faded into disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

He gave me a weird look. I suppose I had no reason to ask why he was here when I was the one stuck in mud.

"Weasley. . . ? Seriously? What the hell are _you _doing here?" His hands reached down and pulled my arms out of the mud, my body reluctantly following. It felt like I was vacuum packed into the mud. It took effort to get my body upright and even then, Scorpius himself slipped, let go of my arm, and landed with a nice kersplat.

My body went limp and I went down again. When my head connected with the ground, white pain encompassed me and I couldn't see, hear, or feel anything.

This time when my eyes opened Scorpius's face was directly above mine, much paler than before. His mouth was moving but I couldn't yet hear what he was saying. I just stared at him blankly until there was this pop of pressure and all noise returned.

"_Boo_," I said loudly because I was overcompensating for the quiet I was just in and Scorpius gave a soft scream. No lie, he just _screamed_. I wish I could have documented that. Could have been definite blackmail for the future. Too bad.

"Merlin's bloody walnut. What just happened?" Scorpius said as soon as he resurfaced in my vision.

"Apparently I scared you?" I said, attempting some humour. He didn't laugh. What was he even doing here? I was surprised he didn't make fun of me and my situation and then leave me all alone in the middle of nowhere Ireland.

"Weasley you just blacked out. Are you injured or something? Where's your family? Who'd you come with?"

"Errr, we got separated after the game finished. And I'm with James, Molly, and Vic. We were all supposed to meet up at the campsite. How long ago did the game finish?"

"About three hours."

"Hmm, they might be a bit worried then."

Scorpius scoffed. "You think? Can you get up? I can help you get back."

"I don't know. I'm quite happy not leaving this spot. I don't feel inclined to move." In all seriousness, that was true. I didn't want to get up. Any movement caused a stupid amount of pain. And, I was a little hesitant to take Scorpius' help. The last time I saw him he gave me tentacles. The time before, it was a nice set of antlers coming out of my temples.

I, of course, did nothing to provoke him. Or deserve the antlers and tentacles. . . Except, maybe just transfigure a peacocks tail on his bottom, but _he_ did deserve them (he gloated about a Charms essay he got a higher score on. Like really, who does that?).

Scorpius groaned at my response. "I'm not leaving you in a mud puddle in the middle of a field. We'll go slowly this time."

And to my utter astonishment, Scorpius got down on his hands and knees in the mud and started scooping mud away from my body. My legs were the first things that were released from the muddy grave, followed by my arms.

"So how did you end up in the mud?"

"It was a stubby man with a megalomammoth enemy who had a wicked swing. Both with beards that would put Merlin himself to shame."

I wish I could see Scorpius' face. He paused in his digging but didn't say anything sarcastic. "Go on," he said cautiously.

"Well, James, Vic, Molly and I were all seated up in the nosebleeds. Those two fellows aforementioned were below us and were bickering the whole time about the bloody match. One was a Cannons fan and the other a Kestrel. You _know_ how that is. But then the Cannons won with that spectacular catch of the snitch by Brady and it all turned to chaos. There was screaming, cheering, champagne flowing – one bottle exploded in my face but that's beside the point – and the stubby man was taunting the megalomammoth dude, continuously."

By this point Scorpius was pulling mud away from my head, the last of it to go. His hands were covered and mud was all over his robes. Probably not worse than myself though, I was the one actually entombed in it.

"So the cousins and I all promised to meet back at the campsite before we left our seats because we naturally assumed we'd lose one another right away. And then we entered the crowds. Predictably, I lost sight of them and decided my safest course was to wait out the craziness. When I finally left the stadium, nothing had calmed down, and all the rioting was going full force right at the door. Just my luck, of course – "

Scorpius snorted and I couldn't help but grin. I crack myself up sometimes, I've always been incredibly lucky. _Not_. The smile rather hurt the one side of my head though.

"I tried to skirt around most of the fighting, but the rain was visibly impeding my sight and I slipped in the mud and accidentally knocked over the stubby man from the stands who was fighting with the megalomammoth man, pushing them into each other. The mammoth man didn't quite appreciate that and produced one of those wooden noisemaker Beaters bat they were giving out before the game and went to take the stubby man's head off with this wild swing. But he ducked at the last minute and clocked me across the face instead, since I was right there still."

"What! He knocked _you _out? With a Beaters bat?"

"Yes. And that's all I remember. . . At least rioting is no longer right here." I said and ended it brightly.

"You're crazy, you know that."

"Yeah, love you too," I muttered as Scorpius helped ease me upwards, going much slower this time and holding onto my neck and head. As soon as what I said registered, I turned red. It was a mad blush that made my whole face and neck heat up. How the hell did that slip out?

"Hmm, really? Never would have guessed. Those birdies you sent at me last year begged otherwise."

"You're insufferable! And I didn't mean it! It just slipped out. . . I'm _delirious_ alright. Clearly my sense was knocked out and I'm overcompensating by blabbering."

Scorpius raised his eyebrows. "Were you serious, with the whole story?"

Alright, I might be clumsy, blabbering, and unlucky but I did not tell falsehoods. "I wish I was joking. It's embarrassing. I'll never be able to live it down. Or play Beater at school anymore. You better not tell anyone - OK hold up, _hold up_. Everything has gone white."

And I wasn't even joking. I couldn't see anything.

"Bloody. Hell. What if I've gone blind? I'll never be able to play a Quidditch – oh wait, vision is slowly returning." I blinked rapidly as order was restored.

I was seated upright, but I didn't know how I was going to walk anywhere. It felt like I had a second head bulging out from my left ear. Scorpius held my face in his hands and tried to wipe off some of the mud that coated me to inspect my injured area. That was doing nothing to help my blush fade. In fact, he basically just made it spread to my entire body. He was much too close to me. Hadn't he ever heard of personal space for I was surely overheating! However, overlaying the overheating, there was pain and I winced as Scorpius' fingers gently brushed across my bruises.

A brief flash of concern fell across his face as he checked out my head and presumably all the swelling and bruising that was encumbering my left side, but he masked it quickly enough. He ran his hands in front of my eyes a few times. I wasn't sure what he was doing and he saw my confusion.

"Your eyes are focusing on me, but I think it just might be a serious concussion, no permanent blindness. You'll have to get properly checked later."

There was only one thing I took from that sentence: "I am _not_ focused on you."

He gave me an amused smile. "Ready to stand all the way up?"

Ooh man. I honestly didn't think I would be able to, but I didn't say anything. Scorpius scooped his arm around my waist and basically just lifted me off the ground, setting me gently on my feet. It helps when you're tall. I was a bit jealous.

"That was effective. You just saved about twenty minutes of struggle." He went to take his arm out from my waist, but I clenched on tight. "Better just wait."

I really didn't feel stable now that I was vertical. It was a bit of nausea, dizziness, and white threatening to creep over my eyes. Even after I let go of him, he seemed to realise I wouldn't be going anywhere unless aided. And whatever, it was just some guy who hated me, I was sure he didn't mind escorting me to the end of the campground. He didn't say a thing though and I didn't complain (it wasn't at all because I rather liked his arm around me, which was strangely comforting when one had a severe concussion and was covered in muck).

We stood still for quite a few minutes while I tried to take deep breaths. I happened to glance down at myself at one point and understood how nobody noticed me lying in the mud: I was _completely _covered. No Cannon colours or skin was exposed anywhere.

"I probably look like quite a sight at the moment," I haphazardly mentioned to Scorpius. He was pretty filthy now as well after helping dig me out and standing me up and since I was basically resting against him, trying not to fall down. I could feel my hair heavy around my head, stuck to my back and clothes, clogged down with mud.

"You're always a sight."

I glared at him and took a step forwards. 'I'm going to ignore that insult. Or compliment? I don't even want to know what it was. Let's go. My campsite is in the North End.'

"Uh Weasley. . . " He wasn't moving. I mean, I tugged at him but it was so weak and ineffective he just pivoted me around instead of going in the direction I wanted. "North is this way."

Oh. _Oops._

It was probably a good thing Scorpius knew where he was going. If I was by myself I would have went the other way and it sounded like all the riots were down yonder. I didn't need more chances to be involved and injured.

"What happened after the game? How long did the fighting last here?"

Scorpius shook his head. "Less than an hour. Fighting is still ongoing in the southern campgrounds but most of it is controlled. Law enforcers in the area probably outnumber campers now."

"Bloody hell. That's insane. I can't believe I was just part of a riot and got knocked out by a Beaters bat. I didn't last two minutes!"

"You're lucky you weren't injured worse." We finally sloshed out of all the muck around the entrance of the Quidditch pitch. Campsites started just a dozen metres ahead and festivities were ongoing. The Cannons had won for the first time in basically forever. My Dad was probably bloody ecstatic wherever he was with Uncle Harry and Auntie Ginny. They had box seat tickets (lucky bastards) and were probably somewhere in Kilkenny already plastered. I suppose I should have been more excited about the win myself, but I honestly was more worried about falling over or something else equally asinine at this moment. What if I fell on Scorpius?

"Don't make me laugh. Lucky? I've never heard that in the same sentence in reference to myself. Who was the only one last year who managed to splinch themselves in half, twice?"

"Only you," he muttered. "Well, despite your concussion, your tongue seems to be in working order."

"I don't think my tongue is connected to my brain at the moment because its pounding and I feel like I'm going to grow a second head. I think it's shock. If I suddenly faint, or something stupid, my campsite number is number three-thousand-and-three in the North. My tent is tie-dyed and pumpkins are hanging from the trees – don't ask. If I die en route, Freddy gets my clothes. He made me promise a year ago."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw orange and braced myself for something. They were Cannon fans – so basically a bunch of crazy mofo's – and something was bound to happen. They were decked out in only bright orange capes and underpants. Everything else was body paint.

"I wouldn't mind going blind now," I said to Scorpius. Some of those old men should _not_ be running around in their tighty-whities. That was one of the more unfortunate things about being a Cannons fan, most of the other fans were over 50 and male. I definitely averted my eyes skyward to avoid looking at those beer bellies, but that seemed to make my head want to fall all the way back. With supreme effort I righted it again and just decided to stare at Scorpius' shoulder instead. He had a nice shoulder.

"I wouldn't either," he agreed.

Surprisingly the drunken fans left us well enough alone. We probably just blended in with the trees because we were so muddy. It was a brilliant disguise.

The density of tents increased the further we stumbled along. Alright, I was the one stumbling, but Scorpius was the perfect gentleman (for the first time in his life) and didn't say anything. He just tightened his grip and guided me along. Remember that blush from earlier? Yeah, it was still there, full scale. We were passing campsite five hundred and six so I didn't think it would abate for quite some time yet. Hopefully it wouldn't be a permanent blush, I didn't need more things to add to my medical repertoire.

"You're fortunate nobody can see what team colours you're wearing," I suddenly stated. "Kestrels, really?"

"I'm not biting."

"What?"

"We're not going to spend the next few thousand campsites arguing about Quidditch."

I scowled. I could recite statistics like it was nobody's business. Plus we just won the League Cup, _no biggy_. And I was Team Captain at Hogwarts. I couldn't just be dragged along in silence though, if I stopped talking my head might fall off or something.

"Wait. Why are you here and helping me? I was under the impression that you thought I was the equivalent of an octopus. Y'know, _tentacles_. . . ? Bring back riveting memories of Sixth Year. . . ?"

Scorpius started guffawing loudly, almost startling me out of my boots.

"CHUDLEY CANNONS!" someone yelled next to a fire and a loud cheer went up, quieting Scorpius before he really got started. There were lanterns hanging in the trees and clothes draped from clothes lines. "FRIENDS! HAVE A SHOT WITH US!"

"Oh hell," Scorpius whispered. He kept walking but two older women pulled at Scorpius' arm and stopped us in their tracks.

"Oh, you're so dirty!" the one woman said and let go of his arm to wipe it on the grass, but managed to stumble and fall. The other woman had a bottle of white liqueur in her hand and shakily poured it into a dirty glass. "Here! Shots for the Cannons win! First time in 100 years!"

It was actually the first time they beat the Kestrels in 107 years, not 100, but before I could correct her she shoved the glass into my hand, alcohol slopping over the edge. I couldn't help but stare in horror at it. There was no way I could take a shot. Not when my head was throbbing and I was worried I'd black out soon with the concussion. Scorpius seemed to read my brainwaves, thank goodness. He grabbed the glass and clinked glasses with the lady.

"To the Cannons," he said solemnly and then took my shot for me without making too much of a grimace. I couldn't help but sigh in relief. When the lady insisted that I needed a shot, Scorpius did another to appease her when she would accept no argument so we could finally make our escape.

"My hero," I said as soon as we left their clutches. Shit, was I flirting? "This should be in the papers somewhere. Diehard Kestrels fan celebrates the Cannons win."

"That wasn't the most pleasant shot, I think it was a homebrew. You owe me, by the way."

"I do. Thanks Malfoy. I appreciate all this."

He gave some sort of grunt as rebuttal or acknowledgement. The sun was completely gone by now and campfires at each campsite adjacent to us lit our path with the occasional lanterns in trees set out by League officials at the start of the weekend. We passed banners upon banners for the Cannons, orange streamers, and those damned Beater's bat noisemakers. People were celebrating everywhere.

The mud that was coating me had hardened and it was uncomfortable to move, but I didn't notice it as I was consumed by our conversation. Scorpius was just so easy to talk to! My mouth wouldn't shut up when I started talking about Transfiguration, how I was liking Ireland, and then somehow ended up telling him a funny story about where I got stuck upside down in a tree when I was five. Even though he wasn't one to talk a lot, he prompted me with questions and seemed genuinely curious about me and my life. He shared his stories, and it was like I wasn't even walking with Scorpius Malfoy. Who was this guy beside me? Clearly I didn't know him. After we averted a noisy group of fans who were dancing up a storm in the middle of the path, I suddenly felt like sharing something with him.

"You know. You're actually rather nice. Well, I mean, this is nice. Or different. You know what I mean. We've never really talked before. . . " I just really should shut up. Honestly, what was I saying!

"You're not half bad Weasley."

"Half bad! _Excuusseeee_ me!" Songs started up from a large campsite on the left. 'Twas a happy day in the country for us fans. If only my head didn't hurt so I could appreciate it more.

Scorpius suddenly started laughing, the most uncontrollable laughter I'd never head. It was unbridled and I could only stare up at him. His arm tightened around my waist. It did nothing to help the now permanent blush.

"Why are you laughing?" I asked with a grin. I wasn't even sure what set him off and didn't want to be out of the loop.

"I just remembered again. . . You. . . tentacles. . . your face! That was priceless."

I rolled my eyes. The whole damn school thought that was priceless for over two months.

"_Har har har._ Yes it was _so_ funny. Why did no one appreciate the peacock feathers _you_ got? That was a magnificent piece of transfiguration. They highlighted your buttocks like no other."

He was still laughing. It was not at all an infectious laugh and I would not start laughing with him. Nope. . . Instead, what came out of my mouth was an ungraceful snort despite all my efforts to suppress extraneous noises. Those two potent shots he took back at the campsite must have affected him more than I thought.

"Rose, you tried rolling down the stairs with your tentacle-leg things to come after me. And then fell into the banister and managed to get stuck when the tentacles wrapped around the woodwork."

With his use of my first name I felt really warm, if it was possible to be warmer. "You just called me Rose," I decided to say. We needed to move on from the tentacles.

"No I didn't."

And just why was he so defensive?

I nudged his shoulder as much as I could from my vantage point. It was more like his elbow though. "It's okay. I like it. I find 'Rose' rather suits my persona, don't you?"

Oh no. More flirting. It felt filthy and that wasn't even a deliberate pun on my situation.

OK, maybe just a little bit.

It didn't actually feel filthy but I swear it was probably just the concussion making my brain let loose as if Scorpius was one of my best friends. The atmosphere around us was other-worldly at this moment: darkness surrounded us with the odd gleam of campfires and lanterns that lit the paths; the dominant colour of orange in the trees as decoration; sounds of cheering and talking all around that were fading as my focus was on our conversation. Our easy banter wasn't going to last much longer than this walk to the campsite. I felt a tinge of disappoint at that thought.

"It does. You're one of the few people who I think fits their name perfectly." If I wasn't mistaken he sounded a bit nervous.

It made me beam (which caused pain in my left cheek). "Why thanks, Monsieur Malfoy. I am honoured to do justice to my name."

He started laughing again suddenly, shocking a few passerby's who apparently didn't notice the two mud covered humans walking. "Tentacles._ You_. Honestly!"

My lip was curling into a scowl with the mention again. I was trying really hard to repress that incident, I don't know why I brought it up in the first place so long ago.

We were now at campsite one-thousand-three-hundred-and-twenty-six and making rather good time. "Hey, you didn't answer that question I asked previously. Back when we were interrupted to do shots. Well, when you had to do all the shots."

"Hmm. Right."

I waited, but he didn't elaborate.

"Sooooo? What are you doing here and helping a fellow Hogwartian out? I was under the impression that you didn't really like me."

He drummed his fingers on my side and I immediately got shivers. As if I needed shivers to go with the permanent blush. I would be my own case study at the hospital. I squirmed a bit too because it tickled. That was my weak spot. Very dangerous.

"I don't not like you – "

Double negative, it took me a second to figure that out.

" – I think you're really brilliant and passionate about what you do. I like our 'fights' at school really. They're entertaining."

"Wow. Those shots must have been very strong."

He chuckled.

"No seriously. I think you've complimented me more than once in the past hour. Who are you and what have you done with Malfoy?"

This was crazy. I mean maybe secretly, somewhere deep and dark inside me I thought the same. But I wouldn't actually say it! What was this!

Chants of "_Chud-ley Can-nons! Chug! Chug! Chug!"_ got louder the closer we got to campsite two-thousand. I remembered the pre-game party at this campsite hours ago. James, Vic, Molly, and I all joined them to play a few drinking games early in the afternoon, though I wasn't drinking because I was underage and it was the only way my dad let me go camping with my older cousins for the League Cup. They were the only other group of under 20's we found in our area of the campsite and were rather wild, hence the apparent chugging of alcohol going on.

"We've never talked before. Alone. Like this. It's nice," he said sincerely.

That was a thought to ponder. Scorpius likes talking to me. But I had to agree with him and since we were being extremely honest at the moment I told him so.

"It _is_ nice. I concur. Let's do this more often."

"Ok. We will."

A damn smile formed on my face and wouldn't leave. Just when I thought we were clear of the wild campsite some sort of Frisbee came flying through the darkness and clocked me in the head. On the _left_ side. In the damn swollen concussed area.

My legs immediately gave out and sheer white pain overcame me for a few moments. Scorpius wasn't prepared for my dead drop and so I found myself clutching my head while sitting in a mud puddle. _Again_.

"Weasley!" he exclaimed. He ducked down and I looked at him as if they were a lifeline. His hands were on my shoulders and holding tight so I wouldn't collapse backwards. I wouldn't say no to a lobotomy at this point, it was probably less painful than this.

"Hey, sorry mate. Can you throw the Frisbee back?" someone yelled. I recognised the voice from the pre-party, but in the darkness and through my pain I wasn't about to say hello.

"Imbecile," Scorpius murmured with worried glances at me. Sharp pain started shooting bullets into my skull and the whiteness started creeping into my eyes. I closed them.

"Damn. Damn. Damn," I said under my breath. I didn't want to faint right now. I was really enjoying our conversations. Who knew that a Beaters bat could really do a head in?

By the time Scorpius threw the Frisbee back one-handed from his kneeling position I managed to clear the white and felt like I could stand up again. He turned back to me and put his hands on my face, holding it steady.

My eyes careened around a bit before settling on him. "Whatchu lookin' at tiger?" I said light-heartedly.

"How's your head? Can you walk? Are you OK?"

Well, despite the concussion and pounding in the skull I was. "Let's mosey on _dahling_. We've got some ground to cover still."

Scorpius rubbed his temples. "Rose. Is this how you're compensating for the pain? I don't know if I should be worried or not. I'm more on the worried side right now. . . "

"Ahhh, shucks. Don't worry, love! I'm fine. I'll probably sleep real good tonight. Yup. This mud is looking awfully like a bed at the moment, why don' you just leave me here. . ."

I tried to lay down but was stopped by a firm hand at my back. Scorpius looked briefly scared at my actions and once again wrapped his arm around my waist and hoisted me up. "Let's get you back, we're almost there. I really wish I had my wand on me."

And I wish this pounding would stop. I felt so loopy because of the Frisbee blow. "Where's your wandy wand?" I giggled. I giggled? Sweet Merlin get me home. Scorpius was walking at a much faster pace than before. I wasn't even sure if my feet were on the ground and moving along with his.

"I lost it a few hours ago during the riots. I was one of the volunteers for the game and was trying to break up a fight when some Kestrel fans got angry. I was jostled a bit and don't know where it ended up. Might have been stolen for all I know."

"Shucks. Unfortunate. _Really_. What are you going to do? School in few weeks."

"Wand shopping again. Ollivander is not going to be impressed. It's the third one I've had to replace."

This time when Cannons fans approached us and tried to get us to have a drink with them, Scorpius shooed them away.

"Why are you two so muddy?" an obnoxious almost-nude-old-man asked us who was clearly sloshed out of his mind. He had the Cannons logo painted across his chest and instead of averting my eyes like before I couldn't stop staring at his large stomach. His belly button was an outie. I'd never seen one before. 'Twas grossly fascinating.

"Been _canoodling_ in the bushes?" he said to Scorpius, half taunting and half chastising. "You know that's not how to treat a lady, young man."

Scorpius tensed and assured him that we had not just been canoodling in the bushes. Then we left as quickly as we could. Scorpius avoided my gaze (or so I thought, I didn't quite trust myself at this moment).

"You're lovemaking skills left my toes a-tingling dahling," I said with a flourish of my hand after we passed by the shambles of a tent at the next campsite. "Don't be ashamed of our tumble!" Flourishing of the hand. Lovemaking. _TUMBLE._ And were my legs even working? My head couldn't think of an answer.

I missed Scorpius' reply and apparently the last few hundred campsites as well for before I realised it, the familiar pumpkins Molly and I carved were lit up in the trees and my tie-dyed tent was before us.

"My tent!" I suddenly said. "We've made it."

Scorpius let out a deep breath. "Merlin's sweet gumdrops. You're alive. Thank goodness. You haven't spoken a word for about half an hour. It was unnatural."

We entered the campsite and I pointed out the three pumpkins I carved in the trees. There was a fire and the rumblings of voices from around it.

"Hey, are you two at the wrong campsite?" James asked us from somewhere off in the darkness, he was snuggled up beside a girl who was definitely not Molly or Vic.

"You don't even recognise your own cousin? Seriously James, you call yourself a relative," I said. Scorpius moved to let go, but I held on tight to him. He was not running off yet.

"Rose? That you? Why are you covered in mud? I thought you went to bed hours ago."

I shook my head and then had to hold it to stop it from falling off. "No you dummy. I didn't even make it back here after the game!"

"Who's in your sleeping bag then?"

"I don't know. I don't think I _want _to know. You didn't check? And is Vic around? I have a concussion right now – long story. This is Scorpius by the way. He's basically my knight in shining armour."

James eyeballed Scorpius up. "What did you do Rose?"

"Pshhhaa. Don't assume he did anything. Blame the megalomammoth man," I countered.

"Yeah, yeah sure. I'm not even going to ask, I'm sure it's ridiculous. And Vic just went in to grab some drinks before we head out again. You want something mate?" he asked Scorpius. He picked up a beer by his feet and held it out.

"Ah, no thanks," Scorpius said. "I won't be able to stay long."

"Suit yourself. This is Ellie, she's from the campsite we were at this afternoon." It was also the place I almost died from a Frisbee, but I neglected to mention it to James. I didn't really recognise the woman, but gave a smile all the same.

Ellie gave a small wave and wrapped a blanket tighter around herself.

"Let's find Vic. She brought the first aid kit," I told Scorpius. We walked together inside the tent, James' eyes on us the whole time. I was sure he was going to take the mickey out of me in the morning.

The tent was a purchase of mine I was particularly proud of. It was magically expanded and there was a little seating area on one side with a small wood burning stove and a table for two, while on the other all our sleeping bags were stretched out. It was the perfect size for the four of us. And apparently someone _was_ in my sleeping bag (a rather lumpy someone). And it wasn't Molly or Vic because they were staring at us standing there.

"Welcome to my tent," I said happily to Scorpius who was looking around. I was glad most of the loopiness had passed so I wasn't saying anything else too embarrassing. "It's my baby."

"I really like it actually. It's quaint."

"Uh. Rose?" Molly said. She was looking at us with a baffled expression on her face. "Is that you?"

"Of course it's me. Who else would show up in this tent and say 'it's my baby' whilst covered in mud."

Vic looked over to the sleeping area. "Who's in your sleeping bag? We thought you beat us here after the game and passed out!"

I looked up at Scorpius. "I'm really glad you found me when you did. Apparently nobody would have noticed my absence until we were packing tomorrow! I would have been stuck in mud all night."

"You're lucky," Scorpius said with a smirk. His eyes crinkled and I knew he was genuine. But that was the second time he said that phrase to me this evening. He _would_ learn. "Vic, you said earlier Rose? I'm Scorpius. And Molly – nice to meet you." He reached out and shook hands with the both of them.

"Pleasure," Molly said. "You're just as covered in mud as Rose. _Whaaat_ were you two up to?" I heard the tone of her voice with the innuendo attached and completely ignored it.

"I have a concussion," I announced instead. "Cousins to your stations!" Scorpius let go of me and I sat down on the futon. I rested my head on the back of it and it was like everything hit at once. The pounding that I had been ignoring the past few hours moved to the front of my head. My vision went double, but at least it was better than going blind and loopy again. I almost wished I was still walking with Scorpius, that somehow made me not realise I was as hurt as I was, all the talking kept everything at bay.

Molly and Vic were staring at me. "Where is the first aid kit?" I reiterated as two Scorpius' heads stared down at me. Woah.

"Just a concussion? That's it? Pretty tame for you," Vic finally said. She dug around in her bag and pulled out a bottle of wine and a small box, bringing over the box for me.

"Do you mind if I siphon off the mud?" she asked. "I can't see a thing."

"G'head. Do Scorpius too while you're at it."

I felt a small pressure all over me and the flaky, sticky, muddy feeling that I'd had since waking up in the mud disappeared. I could feel my loose curly hair around my face and that frightened me a little because that wasn't normal. All the extra tension of being held down with the mud probably caused a fission reaction as everything finally sprung free. I wouldn't be surprised if my auburn locks were triple their normal volume right now.

"Woah. That's a gorgeous bruise decorating your face. You're more purple and green than your normal colour right now," Vic said and smeared a dollop of blue cream all over the left side of my face.

I heard Molly laugh in the background and say to Scorpius: "Kestrels, eh? I bet you're feeling a little bitter right now."

"Actually not really," he replied. "It was a well-played game on both sides. I've almost been converted to the Cannons though, Rose was quite good at laying out the argument on our walk over."

I snorted. And then winced in pain. I didn't try to convert him at all! What a load of bollocks, _he_ didn't want to talk Quidditch with me during the walk!

"Would you like me to check who is sleeping in Rose's sleeping bag? I feel like she's going to pass out very soon."

I raised my hand above my head for them to see behind the futon. "I second that. You go Scorpius. Kick the imposter out! And this cream feels glorious Vic, the magic is some kind of special. I'm going to marry it tomorrow. Owl the judge for me."

"Sorry to burst your bubble Rose, but I don't think you want to marry the cream. It'll leave you very unsatisfied and I fear it'll end in divorce."

"Shucks. At least you're looking out for me cuz."

I sat up because the dizziness had subsided substantially and put my chin on the back of the cushion, watching Scorpius lean over the sleeping bag. He pulled back the top and exposed a middle-aged man sleeping in there. I didn't recognise him; it was a bit disturbing to think someone was in my sleeping bag and tent, but at least he was fully clothed. Scorpius started shaking the person that was laying there.

"I can't believe some random man is in your bed," Molly whispered to us. "I can't believe we just assumed it was you!" We all stood back and watched Scorpius.

After some more vigorous shaking the man bolted upright. "Avast the Kestrels!" he shouted and just about nailed Scorpius in the eye with a hand that went flying upward. "Wait, who the bloody hell are you?"

I giggled. Who was this person?

"Sorry mate," Scorpius said. "You're in the wrong tent."

The man goggled at him, looking completely stunned. He wasn't very attractive and I didn't have much sympathy for him. It was _my _bed!

"Shit. This isn't campsite one-thousand-three?"

"No. It's in the three-thousands."

"Bollocks! This is embarrassing. I might just stay and crash. That's a bloody far walk mate."

"Oh heeeell no," Vic muttered. Scorpius didn't even glance back at us to ask, thank goodness. I really didn't want to crash on my futon for the night. I smiled at Scorpius's back. I was getting sleepy now.

"Nah, there's no room. I can help you get back though, I'm heading that way."

Reluctantly the man pushed my sleeping bag off of him and Scorpius stood him up. Vic applied more blue cream to my still smiling face, piling it on thick. It was like the concussion was melting away. It was brilliant.

He wheeled the sleepy and half intoxicated man out of the tent, but paused at the doorway. I probably still looked like a mess with the cream everywhere and hair a few volumes too big. He was right earlier when he said I usually was a sight to behold. "Rose, this night was a real pleasure. I'm glad I dug you out of the mud. I'll see you around?"

"Oh of course! I'll owl you sometime. I still owe you, maybe I'll treat you to lunch before school starts."

He beamed at me. "I'd like that. Have a good night ladies. Sleep well Rose." And then he was gone. I stared dreamily after him. I really liked him. I was glad my unfortunate events of the evening led up to our encounter.

"Is my skin a weird red colour right now?" I asked Vic who was standing closest. "I'm worried I have a permanent blush going on."

"No you look normal coloured," she reassured me. I nodded. That was a relief.

"Were you _flirting_ with him Rose Nymphadora Weasley?" Molly accused.

"Flirt? Me? Yeah right."

"You like him." She wasn't even questioning it. I turned around and watched as Vic cracked the bottle of wine open and poured two glasses. It didn't escape my notice that about five other empties were piled in the corner. Molly pulled out a blanket from beneath me to take when they headed back out into the evening. The night was still young for them and most of the Cannon fans in the area. Songs and cheering littered the background noise, even from the enclosure of my epic abode.

"Hmm yeah, well I guess I do. He surprised me tonight." I curled up on the futon and stared at my cousins. They had amused faces.

"Very polite. And cute," Molly inputted.

"He is. I agree."

"Looks like he could almost be boyfriend material. If you ever decide to take men seriously and date."

I was turning 17 next month, too young to really care about all that like they did. However, I pursed my lips and gave it a little thought. "Actually, I think I'm going to marry him. Not now, or the next few years. But I'm going to. One day."

Molly chortled a little and Vic snorted, spewing her wine all over my legs. Dirtiness was relative, it all became clear to me tonight.

"You're ridiculous," Molly said with a shake of her head. "Clearly you have some sort of head trauma going on right now."

Considering she just told me that Scorpius was boyfriend material her statement seemed a bit hypocritical. Nonetheless I smirked at them. "The heart knows what the heart knows."

Vic rolled her eyes. "You know, if it was anyone else I would call bullshit. But you – your life is just crazy like that. I believe it."

I chuckled. "We're going to have the best 'how we officially met' story ever. I'll tell you tomorrow though, I'm done for today."

I peeled myself off the couch and crawled into my sleeping bag that smelled like alcohol, stale bread, and cheese. I decided not to really think about_ why _that was (dirtiness was relative, I reminded myself).

I _was_ serious though. I was going to marry him. Maybe I did manage to have a bit of luck today despite all the bad things that happened for if I didn't get knocked out I wouldn't have met Scorpius like I did. And that was my last thought of the night for I blacked out, and this time (thankfully) it wasn't injury induced.


	2. Chapter 2

The euphoria from the Cannons win in the Quidditch League Cup lasted a lot longer than anyone would think. We would be sitting at the breakfast table, Hugo with his massive bedhead and his too-small pajamas from ten years ago (there were Pygmy Puffs all over them), and my dad struggling to pour his morning coffee, when I would start humming the Cannons theme song. Not even five seconds in, Hugo would join, and then my dad. No words would be spoken and at the end we would all raise a fist to the air in silent triumph. _Glorious indeed_. (And that went on for over half a year, but I digress).

The night of the League Cup when Scorpius and I bonded through thousands of campgrounds was as magical as Muggles could believe – it was almost hard to believe it even happened. So before my sentiments got too hazy and before the close of summer, I quilled him a letter that _only_ took two hours and multiple drafts to write. The writing needed to be perfect.

_Hey Peacock-boy,_

_I still extend my sincerest gratitude towards you and your knight in shining armour ways when one is entombed in mud. Would thoust be interested in a meetup at the Leaky Cauldron for such delicacies like Hippogriff stew and Phoenix tear wine? Let me know what day works for you!_

_Yours, _

_Rose_

"You're putting 'yours' at the end?" Hugo remarked when I asked him to proofread as he sat outside meditating on a yoga mat. Sisters are allowed to interrupt during a crisis. "Ew. Why not put 'from' like the rest of the world would."

Brothers. They just don't get it. "Because. I _know _him. 'From' is too formal and stiff!"

"And Peacock-boy? That's just inviting trouble!"

I smirked at him and suggestively wiggled my eyebrows while he mimed puking, his two short braids falling in front of his shoulders. "I'm just trying to keep it light. Don't want to scare him off or anything. Just being myself, you know."

"Sometimes you might be too honest. And you might scare him off with the hippogriff stew and phoenix wine. _And_ they don't even have that at the Leaky."

I rolled my eyes, picked up my flipflop that was laying in the grass nearby, and chucked it at him with a hook shot. "I didn't ask you to bloody analyse my letter, Hugo. Spelling mistakes? Grammar?"

"Don't capitalise the nouns," he said finally and let my letter drift to the green grass beside him. "And try not to leave all the ink splotches on your final draft."

I scowled and flicked my hair behind my head. It mostly bounced around a bit and then resettled into its normal position – entirely defeating the purpose of my flick. "Maybe I wouldn't leave ink splotches if _someone _didn't borrow all my quills and press down too hard on them while using them!"

"Maybe I wouldn't have to borrow them all the time if _someone _didn't ask me to correct every single love note they wrote," he fired back.

That entitled another flipflop at his head. Swarmy bastard. I really wish I had better aim. I collected both sandals that had flown way off target and left Hugo to return to his meditations in the summer sun.

Bev, my efficient little flyer, took off before nightfall with the final draft of my letter in her talons. Then I could only wait.

Luckily, Scorpius didn't disappoint and I woke up to a letter. I accidentally ripped it in half in my completely calm and not at all excited attempt to open it, because … reasons. I found some clear tape under my bed and patched it together.

_Loveliest of mornings, Tentacle-girl,_

_My knight in shining armour ways extend to much more than pretty girls who're trapped in mudholes. It also includes hot lava rescues from inside volcanoes and recovering shiny objects from Nifflers. I would certainly be interested in some hippogriff stew and phoenix tear wine. Might we add a Hungarian horntail steak on the side, with some lightly sautéed full-moon grown mushrooms? _

_I am available for lunch anytime this week._

_Always,_

_Scorpius_

"Why are you showing me this," Hugo complained. "You both are flirting through letters. This is so weird." This time Hugo was sitting on the porch swing, legs outstretched to rest on a stool, and knobby knees exposed as he knit something that looked oddly like a lumpy dinosaur. I didn't question.

"He wrote 'Always' instead of 'Yours,' or _your _boring 'From.' What does that mean in boy language?"

"Bloody hell Rose, it means he's flirting with you. And I'm your brother so I don't want to read it!"

I made a face at him and scowled at the letter below me. This was so complex. "I need a girl's opinion. You suck."

"Well you're in luck because Vic and Nadia are coming over tomorrow for yoga," Hugo said. Hugo and his yoga. But I perked up. Nadia, Vic's partner, was a yogi from Mexico, and they met in Thailand a few years after Vic graduated from Hogwarts. Somehow Hugo went to their studio in London one bored summer afternoon (Dad is always at work) and was hooked ever since. I wasn't so gung-ho on yoga, but it gave me a good reason to do a workout on my own, and then get in some much needed girl-chat.

"Oh yay, finally! Need more girls around here," I said and Hugo rolled his eyes.

I sent Bev off again to Scorpius with details on which day to meet. I'd barely finished second lunch when the reply came back. _Perfect, _he wrote, _see you then._

And it was as simple as that.

* * *

Today was one of those days where you regret your workout halfway in. Well, not regret, but just seem to have zero energy for my run. Usually I run 15 km, lapping around our yard three times, because Quidditch practices at school are the worst and I don't want to be totally unprepared for the new season. But today I only did two laps before my body just was sapped of energy. I walked over to where the fam was still doing yoga and joined them for a few stretches before laying on the long, uncut grass next to them (yes, I forgot to cut the grass again), and having a quick shut-eye.

"You alive Rose dearest?" Vic said to me and I pried open my eyes to see both women's faces peering over mine. "We're done, and Hugo said you had boy drama that you needed help with."

I scoffed. "Not boy drama – just need help with boy interpretation!"

"Well, shall we get some coffee then while we discuss?" Nadia said. Hugo already headed inside telling us he was going to start a brew (Dad was a religious coffee drinker and it carried over to us). She reached her hand down and pulled me up with her super awesome arm strength. By the time we got in, the smell of coffee filled up the kitchen and I breathed in deeply. This smell brought back so many memories of my youth and my mum – her smiling face in the morning; twirling me and Hugo around the kitchen; her laughter; her long brown hair.

I opened up the bright blue cupboards and reached up to the tallest shelf where the coffee cups were. It helped that having Weasley genes made us a few inches taller than the average height of people. I pulled out three mugs before accidentally knocking down the large flowery ceramic one. It shattered on the floor around my feet. I winced, it was Hugo's favourite.

"Smooth," he commented, eyebrows moving together and eyes narrowing. Vic repaired it with a wave of her wand and it was almost like it didn't happen. Hugo still gave me the stink eye though. As soon as the coffee finished, Hugo poured it into all of our mugs (filling mine up less than everyone else's – _mature_) and then stayed inside when we went to sit on the deck outside. I settled into a cushioned chair and propped up my feet onto a stool. Besides the long grass around the house, crab apple trees and raspberry bushes were in full bloom, fruits ripe for the picking. But summer was ending shortly, and autumn just around the corner.

Vic and Nadia sat together on the swinging chair, Vic's arm resting on the back. Nadia had very long brown hair that was braided to the side and kind eyes that seemed to be constantly shining. She was such a positive presence to have around. Nadia was probably the best thing to happen to Victoire. Not that Vic was a horrible person before, but she didn't _glow _like she does now.

I pulled out the few letters I had and tossed it at them. I sipped my coffee placidly while they snorted and snickered their way through.

"You two already sound like you're made for each other," Vic said to me. "This is the geekiest thing I've read in awhile."

Nadia nudged Vic in the side with her elbow. "It's not geeky. It's adorable! They're bonding. And he could have just ignored your playfulness, but instead he reciprocated. He's a keeper." My woman crush was Nadia, her first language was Spanish and so the way she rolled her r's made listening to her like a dream.

I grinned slyly. "Yes, we're going to get married in the future. I've decided."

Suddenly Vic's eyes shot open and she jabbed her hand in my direction multiple times, mug and coffee remaining safely in her other hand. "Rose! This is that guy! From the League Cup thing – Holy Merlin! I met him!"

I just sipped my coffee again.

Vic was still flapping around like a lunatic. "Oh Nadia, he was such a gentleman. Escorted her all the way home after she was knocked out outside the stands, and made sure she was okay, and got rid of the man that was in her sleeping bag. _And!_ soo tall and handsome."

Nadia wasn't as easily swayed. She tapped her mug with her fingers a few times. "Well, tall and handsome don't mean anything if he has bad character. Why do you say you're going to get married?"

I pondered that for a second. The marriage thought had just come to me instantly that night, with no foresight. "It's more like he impressed me so much in one night through his actions and conversations. We just connected. And I just thought he would be a really cool cat to have around for a long time."

She nodded. "Just be careful with your heart; don't give it away too easily. Love isn't real until you leave school, the safety of your home, and have to pay bills together."

"Nadia darling, don't be a cynic," Vic said. Nadia shook her head with a knowing smile, as if she had oodles of wisdom and life experience, which she probably did. She was a few years older than Vic, and I know she had a tough childhood. "Rose. Enjoy your lunch date with Mr. Malfoy. I also get to be the flower girl at your wedding."

Vic's thing was being a flower girl. Since she was the first one born out of all of us cousins, she'd been a flower girl more times than I could count – even when her siblings got old enough, Vic was still the chosen one. There was a quiet snort from inside the house and I clued in to the open window nearby.

"Sorry Vic, I'm making Hugo do it."

"Hey!" a voice came from inside. "I'm not a girl!"

"Friggen brothers who eavesdrop," I said to Vic and Nadia. "Claims he doesn't want to know or hear anything and then he listens through the window. You're _definitely_ the flower girl now," I called out back to him.

"So when are you guys meeting up?" Nadia asked.

"Today actually. So I'm going to go in to shower and get ready." I still was in my post-workout sweaty clothes and my hair was a messy frizzball. I was so attractive sometimes it killed me.

"And leave us outside alone, with this horrible view? I will only accept coffee as a sorry for abandoning us. But, do be careful Rose." Vic tucked a short strand of blonde hair behind her ear and held out her empty mug.

"I_ guess_ I could get you both more coffee." I grabbed their mugs and went inside, glaring at Hugo who was sitting with an innocent expression on his face by the open window. Innocent my ass.

"I'm not going to be the flowergirl."

"Uh yeah. You are. Can't get out of it now." I smiled sweetly and he finally scarpered to elsewhere in the house.

Of course, this was a really long time away. But it was good to be prepared.

* * *

Travelling by Floo powder was one of my least favourite ways to travel. But when you've failed the apparition test five times, it was the only way to go. Unfortunately for me I tripped in the fireplace at the Leaky as soon as I arrived and landed face first on the soot covered bricks. The room suddenly went quiet with my dramatic entrance. I peeled myself off the ground to discover that the front of my clothes (that I'd so carefully chosen) were black from the soot.

The barkeep had an apologetic look on her face, but I kept my eyes averted as I brushed off as best as I could. Of all the ways I could have messed that up, now my clothes were shaded black. I mean, this was an informal lunch – but I didn't want to look like a slob and it was already starting out that way.

When I emerged from behind the bar, a moody day was visible from the windows all around me. They'd really done a lot to clean up the Leaky in the past decade. From _real_ plants dotting the circumference, to bright colours on the walls, to modern abstract wizard art. It really appealed to the younger generation, namely us, now. Scanning the room quickly, I noticed Scorpius sitting in the corner at a table for two, his back towards the rest of the room and gazing out the window into the busy streets of muggle London. For one brief second I hesitated walking over. This was more than just a walk in the dark along a muddy path with orange lanterns all around. This was two consenting people meeting up. For good or for bad … my hands started shaking the more I thought about crossing the floor, but then Scorpius looked at the watch on his wrist and I got the sudden confidence to walk over.

I kept my head up high, regardless of the eyes that followed me, and joined Scorpius, tapping his shoulder, to notice his beam fade to confusion as he looked me up and down.

"That was you that fell out of the fireplace?"

"Good morning to you too," I said and sat down opposite him, nerves a little fried still. I wasn't sure how this would go. He was in a blue plaid shirt and jeans, similar to my own colour scheme, which was embarrassing because it probably looked like we meant to match. "Why yes, my morning was lovely and relatively uneventful right up till I arrived. How was yours?"

He rolled his very green eyes and brushed his fringe back from his face. He was freshly shaven; the last time I saw him he had whiskers present. "Very well, thanks. Aren't you 17 yet?"

Couldn't just let it pass, could he. "Yes," I drawled out slowly. "Turned 17 at the beginning of July."

I was not going to willingly divulge this information, but that didn't stop him.

"And you didn't get your Apparation license?"

"No, I failed the test."

"You know you can retest?"

I narrowed my eyes. "I'm well aware. I failed more than once."

He finally clued in and tried to hide a ghost of a smile. "Ah, sorry for prying."

"That's okay, I'm well aware of my fallacies as a human being."

He snickered at that and took a drink of some nice smelling tea. "You don't have many fallacies. Just get yourself into … unique situations."

"That's one way of putting it," I muttered, as the server came over and took our order. I didn't really look at the menu so randomly chose the first thing I didn't recognise from it. I liked trying new foods, so hopefully it wouldn't be anything fearsome. I also ordered blackberry cinnamon tea as well, since Scorpius's smelled so delightful. Looking outside through a window near us, it looked a little blustery – not at all like the weather at home – and something warm would be lovely.

We both watched the server walk away and my eyes wandered. It looked like the lunchtime rush was dying off. Lots of robed wizards though, so it felt a little weird to be wearing muggle clothes (but not as weird as wearing robes would actually be for the lunch date). Besides the lunchers, a few looked like they had just arrived from the weather outside, hunched over hot chocolate and coffee. The room was rather dark, regardless of all the windows, because of the overcast day and lack of bright lighting in the sconces around. My fingers started tapping on my leg like crazy because I suddenly blanked on conversation topics.

"How was the aftermath of the League Cup?" Scorpius asked, cutting into my thoughts. "No lasting repercussions from your head injury?" Thank goodness for a topic. I mean, I normally don't have a problem with talking, but when I blank, I _really_ can't think of anything – so I jumped on Scorpius' question.

"No, I passed right out until about noon the next day and felt as fit as a peach after a cuppa. My family had already cleaned up the campsite, so we just needed to pack the tent up and then spend the next few weeks in euphoria. Though, not everyone is such a huge Cannons fan in my family. It's mainly Hugo, Dad, and I. And the three I was camping with."

"That's still a decent amount. I'm the only Kestrel fan in my family."

"You're the only one? No way? Is that why you were volunteering for the match?"

"Yeah, partly. I also live nearby so there was a big call for local volunteers and I had the time."

I crinkled my nose. "Well, look at you. Got in free because of that?"

He smirked, his lips twisting to the side. He had nice, snoggable lips. I wondered how easy it would be to pull him into some alley after lunch. "That I did."

"I had to near beggar myself just to get the nosebleeds. Lucky!"

Hot tea arrived on the table, already steeping in a ceramic kettle. I poured it out into a mug and without really thinking I took a large gulp in the momentary quiet of conversation. It burned my tongue and mouth and I had to spit it back into the cup that was still help up to my face, coughing a little bit as it came out. My eyes met Scorpius' and he had a large grin; he looked a little incredulous as well. Perhaps because I just spit up my drink.

I mean, at least I didn't spew it across the table into his face. I set the cup on the table. "It's still a bit hot," I muttered. Scorpius pushed his ice water towards me and I gratefully gulped a few mouthfuls of the cold deliciousness. I put my hand to my throat. "I think I burned all the way down." My mouth was in pain. Maybe I would refrain from snogging him at the end of this date .. or maybe not. I was tough.

"Truth be told, I did the exact same thing. But nobody saw me because you weren't here yet. So I shall refrain from ever mentioning it again."

Well that was gentlemen-like. I think. I flicked some of my hair over my shoulder to get it out of the way and took a few more gulps of cold water. My hair ended up doing that annoying thing where it ignored my commands and bounced back to the front. I blew a small puff of air at it in frustration. Should have put it up for today.

My fingers started drumming on my leg again in the silence. "So, uh, are you excited to go back to school?" I winced. That was a gross topic.

Scorpius shrugged and just ran with it. "Not really. But I'm also just excited to be done and want to finish this year."

"Same! So tired of homework and more homework. I really struggled last year to keep my marks up because I lost all motivation. This year is going to be just as … spectacular, I can tell."

Scorpius drained the last of his tea and set it on the table with a bang that made me jump a little. "Sorry. Last year was a struggle for me as well. But I ended up doing a lot better mark-wise than I thought I would."

"That's good. I think I began to care more about researching obscure jinx spells to unleash upon you," I said. "Some I didn't even use because I was saving them for Seventh Year."

Scorpius folded his hands under his chin and gazed severely at me, eyeing me down. He had large hands, with long fingers. I couldn't help compare mine to his. He was leaning forward in his seat, which then made me realise I was also leaning forward, elbows on the table, and feeling the radiating heat from my tea on my face. "And all those spells you've saved … ?" he asked, leaving the sentence hanging.

I smirked. "Well, never know. I mean, even if we refrain from visibly torturing each other next year, there's always a chance Al will be a dipstick again. Or, I'll practice on one of my friends, because they like to live on the edge."

"Ha, how sure are you about that?"

"Well maybe they don't, but if they don't see who cast the spell … "

"You play dangerous games Rose Weasley," he said, voice low. Our faces were very close now and my eyes travelled to his, down to his lips and back. But then I broke the moment by leaning back. Things were getting intense fast, butterflies were ricocheting around my stomach at an unreasonable rate.

I sighed. "I liked playing them on you. Sadly, you're now a real human being to me since the Quidditch League Cup and not just this annoying blonde centipede who oozed all over the school."

He blinked. " … that is by far the sexiest description I've heard of myself."

I laughed, and then was overcome by giggles that made my stomach hurt. "I try, Scorpius, I really do."

They say laughing is contagious.

They are right.

We suddenly were both wracked over, clutching our stomachs, and eyes streaming tears. Essentially causing a real commotion in the corner of the restaurant we were in. It was nonstop. Just when I thought I was slowing down, he would start up again and vice versa.

Eventually I couldn't even breathe and I was sure that my face was red because of asphyxiation.

"Sir, madam, your food is ready." I peeled my head off the table to look at our server who had a dish in each hand. I was not ready to process food. The server put our respective dishes down in front of us before heading out. The laughing slowly stopped between Scorpius and I.

"Well, Miss Weasley, your hippogriff stew is all ready," Scorpius said, whilst wiping his eyes. His hair was sticking up in the back and he had his laugh lines on his face still. I moved the spoon around in the bowl. It did look stew-like by the brown colour – but judging by the fish heads, glaring eyeballs, and the lumpy carrots, I should have read the menu closer.

I gazed up at Scorpius with somewhat fearful eyes. "Bon appetite. Enjoy the Hungarian horntail steaks." His meal consisted of a large sandwich filled with greens and vegetables. I was a bit envious. I mixed the soup around more, but it didn't become more appetizing.

There was a loud snort from across the table and Scorpius had his arm in his mouth as his shoulders shook with more laughter. How were his abs able to function from our last laugh attack?

"Oh just you wait. This'll be so delicious, you'll be envious." If anything that made him laugh harder. I stirred the soup again. Oh boy, I always eat my words. I was two bites in (of only the broth and safe looking potatoes, avoiding those fish heads staring up at me) when Scorpius basically pulled my bowl away from me mid-bite.

"Merlin's pants, don't eat it! Here, we'll split mine."

"I won't say no to some of your sandwich, but my soup is actually pretty damn delicious," I said. "I mean, I won't touch the fish heads or this one mouldy looking carrots – and this weird looking dumpling – but everything else tastes spot on."

Scorpius looked as if I were crazy.

"Here, try a bite," I said. "Just one." He mimed puking and I narrowed my eyes. "C_hicken_."

"There's chicken somewhere in there as well?"

"Ha. Hilarious." I pushed the bowl towards him.

He looked into the murky depths. "Food poisoning? This seems like a very bad idea."

"Friends forever, suffer together." I would sincerely feel bad it if we both got food poisoning, but better to live in the moment than look back with regrets. And I know _I_ would regret not making him try it.

He visibly shuddered but did take the smallest bite of soup with my spoon before pushing it back towards me. He shook his head. "No. No. That wasn't very good."

I grinned. "At least you tried some. I've had worse." I took another bite, still using the same spoon. If I wasn't a sophisticated and mature 17 year old, I would be squealing about 'how we basically kissed because we shared the same spoon,' but I was above that. Totally. "I was picking feathers out of a salad in Wales last year and … _Oooh,_ they definitely could have removed the scales from the fish though."

I held up my discovery to Scorpius on the spoon and he could barely look at it. He promptly cut his sandwich in half and pushed the plate towards me.

"Here, choose a side."

My heart seemed to flip in my chest. He seriously was the one. I wasn't letting him slip through my fingers.

I pushed the fishy soup away from me towards the edge and beamed at him. "You're the best. So did anything exciting happen after you helped me back to my tent after the Cannons win? That drunk guy who was sleeping in my bed try and make a move on you?"

"No, but I did have to drag him at a few points when he wanted to go back to your tent. He insisted it was actually his and that I was a crazy lunatic trying to abduct him. Oh it was a long night."

"_Ha_. That sounds like it would be a pain."

"Well he made it back to his own tent eventually. Nothing else really after that. Next shift of people came on and I went home. Then to Ollivander's the next day to get another wand."

"Wand number three you said, right?"

He pulled it out of his shirt pocket and laid it on the table and I couldn't help but laugh. "You've already dinted it up again?"

He shook his shoulders. "My cat started gnawing on it when I left it out … unfortunately I no longer have a cat."

My jaw dropped. "That killed your cat?" Poor thing, that would really suck to lose an animal – but that thought stopped mid thought, when Scorpius's eyes crinkled. "You're not serious."

"No, he only turned himself blue. And he shall forever remain blue now."

"Poor thing."

Scorpius' sandwich barely lasted longer than a sneeze, and I picked away at the soup until the server took away the bowls. We were both on our third cup of tea as the afternoon faded away. We talked about Quidditch, the upcoming season, what classes we were in. Everything and all in between.

It wasn't until our server came around once again with more hot water that I looked at my watch and jumped in my seat. "It's almost four!" I exclaimed. "Where did the afternoon go? I should probably get going. Hugo or my dad will be wondering where I am."

Then my stomach grumbled loudly.

"No more fish stews from Leaky Cauldron?"

"Once was enough! No more fish for a _loonngg_ time."

"Yeah, same. And before we leave, I have a weird question to ask you … "

I eyed him up. "The fact that you're asking to ask a question rather than just asking it is making me wary."

He gave a small laugh. "It's nothing bad! Promise," Scorpius said, looking down at his hands. "Can I take a picture of you?"

"Uh, what?"

"A picture. Just to remember this day."

"Of me?"

"No, of the fish stew … of course of you!"

I blinked multiple times. That _was _a weird request. "Um. I guess? You have a camera?"

"It's a muggle one." I'm sure I looked shocked because he continued and gestured to the window behind me. "It's very easy to cross over into the muggle world from Diagon Alley. I visit once in awhile. They have some very neat things. This camera prints pictures instantly, so that's why I like it." Scorpius had a bag on the floor by his feet that he reached for to pull out a small black camera.

I leaned back in the seat and tried to smile when he held the camera up to his face, but felt like it was a failed effort. He lifted his eye away from the camera.

"It's not going to kill you. Loosen your shoulders."

I did have a lot of tension and managed to get a little more comfortable by shaking out my arms and shoulders.

"Now, bare your teeth like a vampire."

I started to bare my teeth, before realising what he just said and then burst out laughing at the thought, or embarrassment, of actually doing that. Then there was a flash and the picture was apparently taken because the camera spat out some paper.

"Nothing is on it?" I said, looking at it curiously. Muggles invented some really neat things.

"Just wait. It'll show up soon. Well, shall we?" He stood up, pulled his coat on, and slung his bag around his shoulder.

It's funny how you can feel tall in some situations and very short in others. Like this morning standing with my cousins and Hugo. I was the tallest one there. Now though, I felt like a dwarf standing next to him. By the time I got my coat on, my picture had appeared on the paper – like magic. I inspected it closely. It wasn't my best picture, but I had to admit (although from all my previous complaints it would be impossible to guess), that my hair looked fantastic today. Apparently it was a good hair day. I handed it back to Scorpius. "Don't perform any voodoo magic on it now."

"I would need a bit of hair for that," he said as he tugged on one of my curls. His finger faintly touching my cheek. My heart skipped a few beats right then.

I mock-glared at him. "Just try, I dare you."

I paid for the meal, even though Scorpius tried to first pay for the whole thing. I wouldn't let him contribute one knut. We walked to the fireplace, me also refusing an apparition back. I grabbed a handful of Floo powder (a bit preemptively, in retrospect) and looked at him, feeling nervous.

"I had a fantastic time today," I said. "Thanks for joining me."

"It was completely my pleasure, I had a great time as well."

He said nothing else, and wasn't sure how to make my departure. So I gave a small, wimpy wave (when all I really wanted to do was snog him in the back alley) and backed into the fireplace, managing to step _over _the grating that had tripped me a few hours ago. The soot I stepped in became airborne around me. I continued looking at him from inside fireplace, ducking my head so I could see him. "So …"

"So …"

"So … I'll just head then."

He nodded, biting his lip. I felt a little ridiculous standing in the fireplace, but it kind of seemed like he wanted to say something else, was bursting with it by the way he was shuffling his feet and doing the really attractive lip biting. I wanted him to have the last word. Either 'I'll be seeing you,' 'Marry me Rose,' 'I'll owl you,' or _anything._

I would give up my pinky finger to read his mind right now.

His gaze was piercing, seemed to look right into my soul. "Well, Rose. There's only one thing … "

I waited, patient and yearning.

"Do you like fishing?"

What came out of my mouth could only be described as a snorting laugh that turned into a cough, but the soot in the air tickled the back of my throat when I inhaled and a full-borne sneeze came out.

Next thing I knew was that green flames were surrounding me and there was a horrified look on Scorpius' face, his hand came up, and then I was zooming through the fireplace, going who-knew-where. My body was flung to the left, and the right, another left and then the walls got really narrow around me, and my whole body felt scratched by the rough walls as the space got narrower. I stopped moving.

I was lodged in the darkness, in someone's chimney.

"Oh bloody hell," I said and dropped my head against the wall in front of me. Screaming started up somewhere outside the chimney where I was entrapped.

"Mum, MUM, SOMEONE'S IN THE CHIMNEY!" screamed a little boy – or girl. They were young enough it was rather ambiguous.

I was royally screwed. I did my best to not make any noise whatsoever as I tried to free the arm that was trapped behind me in the tiny space. I did have my wand on me, but that was useless because I hadn't passed the apparition test yet and would most likely leave a leg behind or something. This had to be a muggle's house as well, since the chimney was boarded up. Perhaps some long gone wizard house because why else would it be connected to the Floo network still!

The little boy was still screaming, and the mum was telling him to pipe down. I was trying to loosen my arm. I just needed to think. Once I got free, I could maybe climb my way back out, painfully and slowly. I looked upwards at the tiny smidgen of light kilometres above me (OK, it wasn't that far, but my hyperactive mind was making it seem far). The walls felt sticky and the air was very oppressive and heavy. It tasted old, if that made any sense, from the ancient soot. I was almost scared to know what I would look like after I got out. Because I would get out. And would _never_ tell my cousins about this. They would take the piss out of me.

There was still incessant screaming by the child. Like really, calm down. I managed to get my arms free finally, even though I wasn't sure there was any skin left on them. I was a little worried about trying to climb out because it would make a lot of noise and now had to debate between waiting until the muggle family left, wait for night, or get out now before anyone at home became worried.

This sucked. And then my throat felt parched. And I had to go to the loo.

I suddenly remembered Scorpius' face as I went spinning through the fireplace – that horror, surprise, and helplessness with that hand that reached out milliseconds before I was gone in a poof of green. Hopefully he went for help. Or … something.

Unless it was some sort of well-schemed vindictive plan that was characteristic of _his_ youth (but of course not mine). Like when he pushed me into the custodial cupboard and the custodian found me tangled in some mops, rope, and stuck in a bucket. I got a week's worth of detention for mischief.

Jammed in the chimney in the darkness gave me even more horrible thoughts. And I was doubting every smile, every crinkle in his eye for the last few hours. Was he covertly planning something this the whole time? The ultimate comeback - the ultimate prank. "_Do you like fishing_?" Why did I do the unholy snort sneeze cough? I sighed to myself, but it was more of a wheeze because of the poor air quality. I was ridiculous. He seemed different, I was different.

I had to get out now. I wasn't going to wait hours in the darkness in a tiny chimney who-knew-where. I was prepping myself to start climbing, regardless of the screaming child, when large thuds reverberated down the chimney and a jarring pain struck my head and jammed my whole body tight against the wall.

I saw stars, and not the nice kind either.

"Bloody hell, sorry Rose. Are you okay?" said Scorpius, his warm breath embracing my cheek. My heart beat a little faster.

"One a penny, two a penny … " with my one free arm I felt for his face, not really believing it was really him. I traced it, feeling his nose in the darkness, his cheeks, lips, and down his neck. He was real. "All in a day's work laddybuck."

"Merlin's gumdrop. Sorry. I wasn't sure where you went, or what to do. But I thought it would be best to try and find you and then we could apparate out? Hell, maybe I should have just went to the Floo Department at the Ministry. But I thought that would – "

"Scorpius, shut up. It's okay." He had a rather firm chest, and now that he _was_ here and I had already unreservedly touched him, I flailed my arm around because I didn't know where to put it. Certainly not on him anymore. It ended up crossing over my chest, so I didn't feel too squished against him. Thank goodness I wasn't claustrophobic, or scared of the dark.

A doorbell sounded from outside the chimney and then we heard the mother say, "Hi, yes. I'd like to have the grate opened and the chimneys cleaned. We've been hearing weird noises coming from inside today."

"I think this is our cue," Scorpius whispered. He grabbed my free hand in his, only slightly groping my boob in the darkness. "Merlin's pants. Sorry. _Sorry_. I didn't mean – "

"Scorpius. I don't even care right now."

And there was sounds coming below us on the fireplace. I was starting to get fidgety, in the limited space I had, and finally Scorpius apparated us out.

I kind of blanked out after that. Not pass out, but just selectively omitted the next 30 seconds of my life, for when I 'came to,' I was lying on the ground with Scorpius peering over me. His face and hair were severely black with soot. His cheeks were shiny where he rubbed them.

"Why does this seem so familiar?" I said. "Severe case of déjà vu right now."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeahhh," I said. "I'm just contemplating what a joke my life is sometimes. I bet I look as delectable as you do."

And bloody hell my brain was doing that thing where it word vomits and regrets it later. I winced and pushed myself up.

"You know what, you're pretty lucky." Scorpius pulled back so he wasn't quite so close, but sat cross legged nearby. I goggled at him.

"_What_?" He was not serious.

"You have all your limbs still … the muggles didn't find you, I was able to reproduce that sound you made before flooing off, and we made it out safe."

"That's … a rather optimistic way to look at it." Maybe he hit his head on something. I was still in this weird shock mode as I started to inspect the scrapes along my arms and legs. My clothes were shredded. Mostly intact but with chunks ripped open, exposing the skin underneath. And soot was everywhere. Even in my mouth. It tasted horrible.

When I was finished the external inspection (my brains still felt a little scrambled), I clued into my surroundings, which I didn't recognise. The room was very large, my head strained upwards to even look at the high ceiling with globular stringed lights from one end of the room to another. The walls were light brown with some very large paintings on them, and had two huge windows at the opposite end of the room that were letting in light. Even the floor pattern was beautiful in an intricate radial design.

"Where are we?" I asked Scorpius, who had a nervous look about him after my inspection was complete.

"See, it didn't have much time to think and I wasn't sure where we should go. Soo, this is my house."

My eyebrows rose.

"I don't know where you live, and I didn't know what state you were in in the dark, and I thought at least if I got you here we could go wherever else and – "

"Scorpius, you ramble more than me sometimes. Yeah it's okay. Smart. I just need to get my bearings. Can I … get a glass of water or something? Soot's in my mouth."

Instantly Scorpius jumped up and left me sitting on the floor in his … foyer? Living room? I had no idea. It seemed more like a miniature ballroom, really.

When he came back, he also had a towel, sweatpants and a shirt. He handed me the glass to which I downed the water in three large gulps. "I don't know any nifty cleaning spells like your cousins, but you can shower here and change into these. There's a bunch of medicinal lotions in the bathroom as well if you'd like to use."

If someone would have told me that I would be showering at Scorpius's place and wearing his clothes two years ago I would have laughed myself to death. But I found myself eager to get rid of all the soot (and see the rest of the house) so I readily agreed.

He didn't really give me a tour so much as drag me as quickly as possible past multiple rooms and paintings and up the stairs and more rooms. My head was spinning this way and that with all the new eye candy of Malfoy Manor.

The shower was beautiful – both the hot water and the shower itself. The water ran black for the first ten minutes and I used about a quarter of Scorpius' soap, making the whole washroom smell like him. It was heavenly, but then I felt like a major creep after I got out of the shower. I liberally applied some of the lotions to my raw skin watching the sore redness fade away.

There was nothing I could do with my old clothes except discard them. I was really torn about that, because it was my favourite pair of trousers, and one of my newer shirts. An occupational hazard of being Rose Weasley was to never get too attached to clothing. Scorpius' clothes were really baggy on me, but at least it was something. The shirt was a generic Cauldron Tippers band t-shirt (actually were a fantastic band – he had a good taste in music). If the sweats didn't have an elastic around the ankles they would be pooling on the floor. I left the towel hanging on the hook behind the door and finally left the washroom after what felt like an hour. But it was so nice to be clean.

I didn't dry my hair very well, so the shirt got wet from my long ends as I went off in the direction he had indicated before. His door was open.

I leaned against the doorframe and watched him for a moment. He was reading on a window seat in front of the most amazing window – it took up half of his wall. He looked freshly showered as well with damp hair and clean clothes. His room had a small bookshelf near the window and one of his walls was filled with small pictures – of which I assumed were the ones he took. Finally I knocked on the frame and he looked up.

"Feel better?"

"Significantly. Thanks … I seriously owe you again."

"No! This time I owe you. That was a dumb joke to crack when you were in the fireplace."

I shrugged. I was the one who dropped Floo powder though, but I wasn't going to argue. I kept looking around his room in a sort of fascination, which I hope wasn't weird, but it _was_ me ... His bed was in one corner with a blue cat stretched out and sleeping on it. There were broomsticks all over his quilt, and a large colourful checkered rug in the middle of the floor. I wandered in to look at the photographs and he joined me.

"They're all muggle-style," I noted. Most of them were from Hogwarts. Lots with family and friends. A few of Quidditch. One of all the houses eating together in the Great Hall – I could make out some red way off in the distance that maybe could be my hair. Scorpius pinned up the picture of me near the edge.

"I don't seem to fit, really."

"You fit, trust me."

"This is really neat. Thanks again, for everything," I regretfully pulled away from the wall. "I should be going now. Hugo is probably salivating in distress by now and my Dad might be home soon. He'll freak out a bit when I tell him the story, but not as much as seeing me wearing your clothes."

Scorpius grinned at that. "They look good on you."

I tugged on the sweatpants, pulling them wide to show him how large they were on me. "Yeah … thanks? I think."

I was only going to tell Hugo and Dad, for now. I was an incredibly honest person and they would probably laugh, but still do the concerned parent and brother gimmick. Totally normal. Vic and Nadia would hear the story in maybe a few weeks. James never. Well maybe in ten years.

Scorpius offered to apparate me back once again, but I needed to face the Floo. Best to jump right back on the broomstick before I had misgivings and got too scared. It was my primary mode of transport.

"So …" I said, standing in front of the fireplace.

"So … " he said right back, with a sneaky look on his face, green eyes gleaming.

I tucked my hair behind my ear. I was not going to have a repeat of this. "Alright, well I'm just going to –"

"I'm kidding. Would you like to join me in watching a Quidditch game on Friday? Charity game between the Holyhead Harpies and the Moose Jaw Meteorites. We can grab a quick bite beforehand; there's this neat place outside Diagon Alley that has the best curry, if you like curry."

He just made my heart happy.

"I love curry," I confessed. "And I'll bring your clothes back to you then."

"Works with me!"

A Friday date. That sounded fancy. "OK, but just as long as we're clear that you don't owe me anything – "

"As long as you don't think you owe me anything," he shot back just as quickly. So this was a mutual meeting, between – I still didn't know what we were.

"Alright. Friday then." What I really wanted to do was snog him, and give a proper goodbye. I'd been ogling his lips the past few hours, and normally that wasn't something I hesitated on. But wearing his clothes, being in his house … I felt nervous. It was uncanny for me. I was out of place.

I grabbed Floo powder before it became too awkward just standing there, but Scorpius reached towards me at the same time and I jumped about a mile into the air at the unintended implications of what it could have meant.

What if his parents suddenly arrived?

"Okay, bye now," I squeaked very loudly. "I'll owl you." And ran into the fireplace, throwing down the Floo powder and stating, "Red Hideaway," very distinctly. And still very high pitched, which I'm embarrassed to say.

I arrived at my own home, familiar yellow walls surrounding me and Hugo in eagle pose right in front of the fireplace on his yoga mat, clearly waiting for me. He unwound his limbs and put his hands on his hips.

"Well, those aren't the clothes you left in. And you have wet hair?"

I breathed a sigh of relief and flopped on the couch, letting myself lounge for a few moments.

"Actually, I was wearing this. You're just not observant."

"Bullshit. Are those _his_ clothes?"

The truth had to come out eventually. "Yes. I'll tell the tale when Dad gets home." I checked my wristwatch to see how much time I had. Not much. The first priority was to get in my own clothes so he wouldn't jump to conclusions.

I did a happy dance as I walked up the stairs (and only tripping over one step in the process). Vic and Nadia were so wrong to be cautious. Sometimes things were just meant to be!


	3. Chapter 3

I ended up staying in Scorpius' clothes for much longer than anticipated. As soon as I got to my room I did a little twirl after shutting the door. The piles of clothes on the floor obstructed my movement, and my feet ended up getting caught in a pair of trousers. My arms wheeling, I tripped over half the floor and face planted on my bed. I had been planning on jumping there anyway, but oh well. I was all alone; it didn't matter if I was ungraceful. Just like the floor, my bed looked like a haphazard mess of blankets, pillows, and a few stuffed animals (Geranium the Giraffe, Crooked the Cat, and Baffin the Puffin).

After face planting, I was pretty content on staying there, nursing a bruised knee and thinking about what Scorpius could or could not have implied by moving towards me before I chicken-shitedly ran into the fireplace. I huffed into my pillow. That was so unlike me – for someone who couldn't stop thinking about pulling him into an alley to snog him senseless I sure blew my cool. But at the same time, I had never felt so nervous about being near to someone in my life.

I huffed again. Merlin I was an embarrassment. I flipped off the bed, sheets and blankets flying with me to land on the floor, where most of my room was situated. However, when I stripped off Scorpius' shirt and trousers (with sadness for they were undeniably comfortable), I folded them up and set them on my bookshelf to separate them from the catastrophe of my room. It was one of those times I wish I knew some nifty cleaning spells to pick everything up. But Dad didn't know any and always cleaned the muggle way because that was what Mum had done when she was alive, and she had been a stickler for not relying on spells. Unfortunately the cleanliness gene didn't translate over to me like it did Hugo. On the walls I had some psychedelic patterned blankets hanging, notes from friends that we'd passed around during class, some family pictures from before Hogwarts when Mum was in them (not very many recent ones), and some of Mum's old school papers on the wall (I found her scribbles, doodles, and handwriting comforting). My room was pretty mismatched, but it was home more than anything.

I riffled around piles of clothes on the floor for an old pair of ripped jean shorts and an old t-shirt that I had stolen from James (or Freddie? It was hard to keep track) last year.

I belted out some tunes as I tramped down the stairs, being as obnoxiously loud as I could because my voice apparently sounded like a dying camel, as Hugo so eloquently informed me at many points in my life.

"Rooosseeeee," Hugo groaned loudly from the kitchen. "No singing when I'm in my happy place."

His happy place was the kitchen, which coincidentally was also mine because of my constant hunger. I continued belting out songs until Hugo put down his knife from where he was chopping vegetables to cover his ears. He turned around to glare at me. By that point I was down on one knee, singing the last note with one arm raised towards him. The note was long lasting and impactful and filled all the corners of the kitchen. Hugo was not impressed.

"I think my lung capacity has increased," I stated after I got up and started rifling through the cupboards, looking for food

"Oh. _Great_," he said sarcastically. He then glared and pointed his knife at me. "I'm making food you know," Hugo said. "Supper. Don't ruin your appetite. "

"Yeah okay _Dad_." Then I snorted in laughter trying to imagine Dad in Hugo's bright yoga shorts. "You cook too healthy for me," I continued. "Need to balance it out with popcorn. Mhmm, _salt_." As I said that my arm reached a little too far into the cupboard and knocked over the rice jar, spilling rice galore inside the cupboard. There was such a large volume the rice even waterfalled out of the cupboard and went all over the floor.

I just stared in annoyance. "Do you think if I just left it Dad would know the perfect spell to clean it up, or even just clean it up himself?"

"When has he ever used magic to help you clean up?"

I made some weird gurgling sounds and started sweeping up rice with my hand, and throwing every second handful at Hugo. He cursed me throughout, but still managed to chop up carrots and avocados. Throwing rice around the kitchen made more a mess, but he had said he didn't like my singing, so he deserved it.

By the time the rice was in every nook and cranny because of my throwing skills and non-attempts at cleaning it up, and after my conversation with Hugo about the possibility of the new Charms professor being part pixie, Dad _finally_ apparated home from work. I jumped up from the table and ran to the entrance. His scraggly red hair indicated a tough day at work, but his smile was a genuine happy-to-be-home smile. He was holding his work bag in one hand and looked suspiciously at me as he gave me a one-armed hug in reciprocation of my enthusiastic bear hug.

"What did you do?" he said slowly. He set his work on Hugo's yoga mat that was in the corner of the room and I followed him into the kitchen, skipping behind him. His red hair was a direct match to Hugo, whereas I got a brown tinged auburn. Hugo and I had both inherited Mum's facial structure.

Dad had crow's feet around his eyes now, but there were laugh lines as well. He was a good head taller than me, which made me scared that Hugo was going to get his growth spurt soon and tower over me as well (not that I was short by any means … just shorter than Dad). Dad sat down with a groan at the table when he grabbed a mug of coffee and leaned back and closed his eyes. I nattered about how I was cleaning up the rice, and not to worry because I would do it really soon, like within the next week, but he wasn't really paying attention. He just seemed tired and happy to be home.

_I_ was in such a good mood though, and I decided to still go through with my plans of telling him all about Scorpius because they say good moods are contagious.

They are wrong.

But perhaps I shouldn't have started out with, "I'm meeting up with Scorpius on Friday, can I borrow the Ford Anglia?"

Even Hugo dropped the knife on the floor as he snorted loudly in surprise at my abruptness. Dad blinked for about a minute straight before he spluttered. "Say what? Meeting who?"

I grinned. "Scorpius Malfoy, my new friend-ish-person-guy-thing. We hang now."

Dad's hands were pointing in all directions and his face slowly went red. "Wasn't he … _jinx_ … 2nd year, _what_?"

"We're going to the charity Quidditch match. And for curry after."

Hugo finally picked up the knife on the floor and turned around shaking his head. "Dummie," he muttered.

"Wasn't – didn't he give you tentacles at some point? And I was called to the school?" Dad ran his hands through his hair. "This is a joke, right?"

I shook my head and put my hands under my chin. "Not a joke, and yes he gave me tentactles, _but_! I gave him such fantastic peacock feathers," I said. And then muttered, "But everyone forgets that part and fixates on the tentactles."

"Because those tentacles were epic," said Hugo, and then just ducked his head like he had not actually said anything.

"However," I continued, purposely being oblivious to the fact that my father was freaking out, "I don't really want to Floo to meet him because I had an incident today with the chimneys."

"Just hold on – I'm still stuck on Scorpius Malfoy. Rose, he's not a good kid. He doesn't come from a good family."

"OK, I knew you were going to say that – but he's not like his family. Don't use arguments like that. They're not fair."

His face was getting redder, and Hugo was quiet now, facing away from us. "Rose, you don't understand. You don't know all the stories from the war. The Malfoys, they supported Voldemort. Malfoy – Draco – during school was – "

"Stop, Dad," I said loudly, interrupting him. "Yes, I know. Obviously I've never lived through the war and I really don't know what it's like. And I know that originally the Malfoy's supported the Dark Idiot. But, I've never once held that against Scorpius. _Never._ Even when I jinxed him. It was only because he was bragging about a higher mark or smirking with his annoying face. That's _very_ unfair to blame him for things he had no control over."

"Rose, it's more than that. There are things that happened. Where the Malfoy's live used to be the base for Voldemort. This isn't right; your mother wouldn't support it either, if she were here."

I hesitated for a second and Dad saw my face and his eyebrows shot together. "What?" he said.

Hugo looked back at me with a warning look. I continued regardless. "Mum _would_ support it, because she always said to treat everyone with respect. And she said to base what you see on the person in front of you, instead of on their family or rumours. I – we know the manor was where Mum was taken," I said hesitantly. I needed Dad to understand I knew enough to make the call for myself. "… and you guys were in the basement. And there were Snatchers … and it was Bellatrix who … " My voice trailed off into the air. Dad's face was white. That was not a good sign.

"Who told you?"

"Umm, we, – as in all us cousins, have talked about the different stories we've heard … That was one of them. And I _know_ it's horrible. But that's not fair on Scorpius."

Dad was still shaken about me knowing that mum had been tortured at the Malfoys. He stood up as if in a daze. "I'll – I'll be back. In a bit. Going to see Harry." He raised his wand and apparated away before Hugo or I could so much as respond.

"Way to go Rose, you broke Dad."

"I know Mum is a sensitive subject and always will be, but at least he knows that we know. And hopefully he sees reason. 'Cause it is unfair for him to say that, right?"

Hugo shrugged. "Yes. But Dad's got a long history with the Malfoys that no matter what, we will never understand through stories."

I slung my arm around Hugo's shoulder and kissed his temple. I knew I wouldn't be able to do that in a few years. He made a face at me, but didn't protest as I grabbed the wooden spoon on the counter and took two large bites of the amazing looking quinoa salad going on. "Hugo, how'd you get so smart? I'm going to run to Vic's house and then check in with Dad."

"Tell him supper's ready. I'm roasting some squash and it'll be done soon."

"Roger that."

"And I'd avoid asking him about the Ford Anglia. Save it for a few months from now."

I scowled. "I swear I drove more before I had my license. Bloody hell, I'm never going to escape Floo powder."

"Maybe if you'd pass your apparition test … "

"Bite me."

"And if you didn't drive over that apple tree last year … or almost run over Lucy ..."

Sometimes brothers know a little too much. I rolled my eyes and punched his shoulder. "Hey. At least I know how to drive it _now_. I'm out. See you in a bit."

"Bye."

* * *

The stopover at Vic's house was a short stop, just to give Dad some time to talk with Uncle Harry, and make sure I wasn't the worst daughter in the history of daughters. She gave solid advice, a fresh cinnamon bun cooked by Nadia, and sent me on my way.

I arrived at the Potter's with a flourish of ash and smoke to Lily sitting at the desk in the study with piles of books around her.

"Merlin, do I want to ask?" I said, mouth full of dough still. If Lily was in one of her 'moods' again …

She looked up at me with bloodshot eyes. I flinched. Lily was ridiculous. Awesome, but ridiculous.

"Why are you you?" she demanded.

"Because elephants are grey," I deadpanned.

She cocked her head. "Interesting. Nature." She flipped a page on her book. "You have icing on your face, by the way." And then my lovely cousin ignored my existence to further her studies on the behaviour of humankind, to which she was forever obsessed about.

I rubbed at my face. "Alright Lily, it was great catching up with you. I'll just leave you now."

My socks were slippery on the hardwood floor of the Potter's home. I heard voices downstairs and slid into the hallway. Al possibly was home, room at the other end of the hallway, but James lived away. I didn't really care to talk to Al at the moment. There was a wooden railing alongside the stairs that I grabbed on to because stairs and socks were a dangerous combination for me. Despite my precautions, the third step down my feet slipped out from under me and I thumped down the stairs on my arse and back, one hand trying to grip the railing and the other trying to save the half eaten cinnamon bun. I failed at both tasks. I ended up in a heap on the bottom, with my cinnamon bun upended on the floor beside me.

Next thing I knew, Aunty Ginny was looking in from the kitchen. I picked my cinnamon bun off the floor to look at it mournfully. "Aunty Ginny, you have the world's most dangerous stairs. There was a casualty." I held my food up to her and she shook her head.

"Rose, you're the only one who falls down them on a daily basis. Are you alright?"

I nodded and gave a thumbs up. "Yess, put on the tea kettle. I'll be right there." I pulled off my socks and bunched them up into my pockets. Regardless of it being on the floor, I ended up eating the cinnamon bun. Might as well try and boost the immune system (and Nadia's cooking was too good to pass up). I painfully did a few lunges before I went to the kitchen to see Dad and Uncle Harry sitting at the table.

"You okay Rose?" Dad asked. He seemed to be in a calmer mood.

"I'm peachy. Just adding more bruises to the bruises." I filled up a mug with hot water and mint and stood by Aunty Ginny. "Came to tell you supper's ready. Hugo's almost done cooking it. And also … sorry for bringing _everything_ up."

There was a bit of a silence and then Aunt Ginny shook her head. "No, it's important to bring it up and talk about it. Ron has always been sensitive about the Malfoy's."

"Within good reason," he said indignantly.

"Hmmmm. You also tend to overreact as well."

"Ginny," warned Uncle Harry.

"He's a good kid," she continued. "I know Astoria; she wouldn't raise a dud. And James, Vic, and Molly have all given their input on Scorpius – said he was very friendly." I shot a look at Aunt Ginny. Say what? Since when do they talk about Scorpius to _her?_ I was going to have to fish for information later.

Dad ran his hands through his hair. "You cannot borrow the Ford Anglia," he said to me. Internally I groaned, _of course_. "But you are allowed to go on a date with him on Friday."

A) It wasn't (technically) a date, and B) I hadn't asked for permission – I had just told him. But I held my tongue because I didn't want to fire him up again and it really wasn't important in the grand scheme of things. Dad had given his approval. That itself was _huge_.

"Do you all really pass around stories? That're from the war?" Uncle Harry asked. His green eyes were serious as they regarded me. It always felt like he could see right through me.

I sipped some tea. "Yes, we tend to all get together and share the odds and ends that we know from different sources."

He nodded, thoughtful. "Maybe it's time we sat everyone down together, instead of the bits here and there."

"I think everyone would love that," I said. There were probably some false stories circulating – like the one where they went deep sea diving in the Arctic Ocean to wrestle a horcrux from a rabid narwhal, or where they stole chicken eggs to survive when camping out.

The rest of the evening turned alright after Dad and I got home. Hugo had set the table and was waiting for us to get back to eat. I told them the Floo powder disaster story, which made Hugo roar with laughter, but made Dad go all Ministry and file a report with the Floo office to look into it to block off the muggle home. Still, I got a smile from him, and made a positive impression of Scorpius – so that was all that mattered.

* * *

_Rose,_

_I amend my earlier statement of 'hot lava rescues from inside volcanoes' to chimney rescues by wayward Floo powder. Just would like to confirm that you are still good for Friday. The Meteorites vs. Harpies game starts at 14:00. I know you said that you would owl first, but I just got a new quill, and this was itching to come out. _

_Always,_

_Scorpius_

Inside the letter was a picture that fell out to the ground. I picked it up and flipped it over. An owl, his owl I was assuming (the same one that was staring beadily at me from the windowsill), was silhouetted up high in the sky against the sun. It was a beautiful shot, with green leafy vegetation at the bottom corners, and the endless turquoise blue sky around. It really made me want to go flying … which I probably would go do actually. At the bottom of the photograph was the caption: _I took my broom out today and tried flying higher than Nero. Turns out, nobody flies higher than him._

I pinned the picture beside my bed, and quilled a letter back to him.

_Scorpius,_

_You better keep 'hot lava rescues from inside volcanoes' on your list of qualifications because you really never know and I don't want to jinx anything (with my luck)! I will meet you Friday – Flooing into the Phantomme Ice Cream Parlour half an hour before. Meet you somewhere around there? Thanks for the picture, it's a great shot. It definitely is making me want to go flying – so on that note, I'm going to race Nero when I give him your letter. He can fly higher than you, but can he fly faster than me?_

_Yours, _

_Rose_

I felt so delightfully witty and happy as I rolled up the finished product. Didn't even get Hugo to proofread, which was saying something about my confidence levels. My trusty Firewave broom was sitting in the corner of the room. Nero seemed to realise he would be put to the test because he was getting fidgety waiting on the sill, ruffling his black feathers, as I grabbed Firewave and prepared myself. My window was wide open and prepared for both our flights.

"Are you ready Nero?" I said. He gave a small hoot in anticipation. He stuck his claw out, and as soon as I handed him the letter, he was off like an arrow, flying straight and true. I swung my leg over my broom and shot out the window after him, into the cloudy sunrise of purples, reds, and oranges.

* * *

Scorpius and I sent letters back and forth all week, and I had accumulated two more pictures from him in that time that were added to the wall by my bed.

Friday came before I even realised it.

Dad was pretty quiet at breakfast. "Just be careful Rose," he said before he left. "I'll be expecting you back around suppertime. If anything changes let me know."

I rolled my eyes. Scorpius was perfect, husband-to-be material. Dad didn't need to worry at all.

I went for a long morning run, and then lazed around the house all morning. Hugo went to a friend's house, so I couldn't even bug him to entertain myself. Even an hour before game time, I was ready to go, feeling antsy and tired of waiting with nothing to do because my nerves were once again shot. I couldn't focus on anything. Exactly at half past, I flooed to the Phantomme with a very graceful step over the fireplace ledge.

For some reason, being in the Phantomme relaxed me. I had half felt like Dad was going to come home at lunch and change his mind, or sic Al on me before I left the house (which always sucked because he couldn't take the hint to gtfo).

I was happy to note that no ash made it onto my clothes as I did the quick inspection. The Phantomme was filled with people, who were presumably going to the game since the pitch was only a few blocks away. Scorpius had said he would be outside on a bench and so I made my way past all the families, kids, and teenagers.

I exited the Phantomme and into the hot sun. Today _was _summer. Beautiful, and a great afternoon for a Quidditch game. I spotted Scorpius sitting not too far away in the shade behind an elm tree and grimaced, even though inside was radiating with happiness. Again, we were somehow wearing similar colours, green this time, as if we meant to match. But, maybe I was too hyperaware of everything and others wouldn't notice. Regardless, I wandered over and sat beside him on the wooden bench.

"Howdy," I said.

He just raised his eyebrows.

"What? Just trying it out," I said amidst a grin the size of the Cheshire chat. It was great to be sitting here. I pulled my feet up onto the bench and then loosely crossed the ankles so I was looking right at him. His hair was messy and pushed to the side, his eyes were bright, crinkles in the corners when his smile lit up at my response. He snapped his book shut and put it in his bag. "How long have you been waiting?" I asked.

"Not long. I had to get the last few things for school, but Diagon Alley was crazy busy, so I decided to get them later to get here a little early instead of being really late." The looming horizon of school was only a few days away. Three days, to be exact (to my never-ending dislike).

"I have quite a few things I need to get still, and haven't. Do you think I'd need parchment paper in the first few months?" I quipped. "I'm probably going to be _that_ person this year and just borrow from everyone for every class. Anyway, this is _horrible _subject to bring up." I stated. "I'm really not ready for school … _Oh_ – Did you make Head Boy this year? I heard Jaqueline got Head Girl." I then mentally smacked my head for keeping the subject going.

"No, I doubt I was even a contender for it," Scorpius said and briefly looked away. He picked up a green leaf that had fallen and started ripping it to shreds in his lap. "Jama got it. But no surprises there."

"Well. I mean, there were a few contenders that would have done very well in the position." Scorpius himself being one. I felt a pang of guilt that maybe our rampant jinxing during Sixth Year demolished his chances at Head Boy – which _was_ a prestigious role (not one that I'd ever been interested in).

"I thought you didn't want to talk about school and here we are talking about it."

I shrugged. "It's because I don't want to go back. And I'm looking for a world travelling buddy who'll skip Seventh Year with me." I poked his leg with my finger so his gaze returned to me and then I wiggled my eyebrows. The statement was made in jest, but I really _really _wanted to pack up and leave. Regardless of my Dad killing me for leaving (even though I knew _he_ didn't finish Seventh year – hypocrite), I wasn't decisive enough to just drop out of school. I knew in the long run, school was important. Or so cousins told me (damn you Vic and James and Molly for making me somewhat responsible).

"Really, don't tempt me. It's just one more year, Rose. We'll make it through." He suddenly stood up and I swiveled in my seat to keep him in my line of sight. "Follow me. I know how we can get your mind off of it." His hand was held out, open, towards me. I didn't hesitate to set my hand in his, putting my feet on the ground. He pulled me upright and then started pulling me down the road through the Wizarding Village and into a small wooded park that wasn't very far away. He threaded his fingers through mind, and didn't let go. I couldn't help but stare at our hands intertwined – my hand tanned, freckled, with ragged nails from where I had ripped them off; his were pale, smooth with some blonde dusting of hair, and large as they encompassed my own. But staring at our hands also meant I wasn't watching where I was walking and I tripped on every pebble and crack on our way to wherever.

It was like when you wake up on your birthday, or Christmas, and you get that feeling in your stomach. It's excitement and opportunity. It's eagerness and exhilaration. You have an idea of what is going to happen, but there is also an element of surprise – like what _could_ happen that you can't anticipate. My heart beat was thumping faster than normal and my mind was spinning in all directions about where we were going. What we were going to do. I only hoped I wouldn't be disappointed.

We followed the path, which wasn't quite wide enough for two people to walk side by side, and entered a nice sunny area with clover all around us on the ground.

"It's a bit wider of a path from here, I'll stop pulling you. We're almost there!" he said cheerfully.

Our destination ended up being a crab apple tree on the backside of the pitch, once we got through the clover filled field. We could hear faint cheering off in the distance from the pre-game festivites. The tree was laden with fruits – brimming really. And they were so big. He dropped my hand. "Snacks for the game?"

He didn't need to say anything twice. My eyes were wide and I was already picking and eating one. "You know the way to a woman's heart, let me tell you. Hell yes. We can put it in your bag?"

He flipped it open and started picking the larger apples higher up beside me. I filled the next few minutes with meaningless chatter, the whole time my mind whirring away, trying to figure out if there was a subtle way to snog him before we headed to the game. I wasn't disappointed by any means by the fact that we were picking apples. But not going to lie, I kind of thought he had implied snogging – because that would have _really_ taken my mind off of school. However, that wasn't to say I wasn't going to try ...

I bit my lip and looked at him. I sucked at the flirting game – my being coy was as graceful as a turtle stuck on its back. Scorpius seemed to catch a brainwave because he looked up at me with an eyebrow raised from a few metres away.

"How much time do we have before the game starts?" I asked in a low voice, taking one step towards him. I was still biting on my bottom lip (in what I hoped was an alluring way) and couldn't help smirking (in what I hoped was a dangerously sexy way). I could see him swallow, and take a smidgen of a step back. He ran his hand over his throat and rubbed it.

"Uh, we have – uh, enough. Time, I mean." For some reason he seemed to be the one acting like a chicken shit now that I was advancing. Though, he didn't have a fireplace he could jump into to escape like I did. The crab apple that was in his hand dropped, his bag by his feet forgotten. I had almost reached him before tripping over a damn tree root because my eyes were on him. I was cursed, there was no other reason. I jumped up almost right away, not even bothering to wipe off the dirt from my knees, and only brushing my hands off on my jeans. With my abrupt fall, he had come forward a few steps. I threaded my fingers through his, putting pressure on him so he'd walk backwards. I could feel the heat radiating from him. He took a few steps back and then he reached the trunk of the tree.

"So," I said. The sunlight was filtering through the leaves, leaving intermittent shadows on his face.

"So … " He swallowed again, but his eyes were dilating, black overtaking the green, and he pulled my body into his so we were flush.

I snickered under my breath at how 'So' was becoming a thing between us. And my hands finally left his to trace up his body and then his hands were around me and then we were snogging like there wasn't a Quidditch pitch behind us, like we'd been dating for years, like we were the non-pedophile versions of Romeo and Juliet, or Antony and Cleopatra. It was like we were oxygen and we both needed the oxygen. His hands were in my hair, cupping my head, on my neck and his lips were insistent and demanding. His hair was long enough that I could thread my fingers through and I lost myself to the moment. Our tongues were moving back and forth and he tasted like mint and apple and it was just – he knew what he was doing – and I didn't want to stop, and wasn't going to. He moved one hand to my back and kept me close, and his hips moved just slightly, and I couldn't help but moan under my breath.

That initiated an intense reciprocation and I don't know if it was possible for two people who were fully clothed to be any closer and I was seriously wondering if it was appropriate to undress right here, right now. I felt so warm, whether from the hot sun or snogging I couldn't begin to separate all the sensations, and it was the best thing I could have been doing right now.

"We're going to skip the game, right?" I murmured against his lips. He didn't even reply right away, just brought our lips closer together again and did a wicked thing with his tongue that gave me shivers in a good way.

"Is that a smart idea?" he finally said. He pulled away and rested his forehead against mine. My head was still turned upwards in hopes that he would not break for conversation. Unfortunately I had to open my eyes because I couldn't wait forever. My face felt flushed, lips felt thoroughly snogged. But his did to, to my credit.

"Yes. No. Yes … No. Don't try to talk sense to me."

He laughed. "Trust me, it's the last thing I want to do. But then, _do_ want to do. You know?"

I grinned and rolled my eyes. "We're both too sensible for our own good. Or maybe it is good we are a bit sensible. I choose to not think about that right now."

His back was still up against the tree, me pressed against him. "So was picking apples just a ploy to get me on my own?" I said coyly. "Take advantage of the unsuspecting, innocent woman who was looking for some Quidditch and curry?"

Scorpius bent down. "It was _you_ that advanced on me," he said.

"Shh. Stop talking."

I don't know how much more time passed before we finally left the tree and started strolling towards the front entrance of the pitch. My hair had turned into a wild beast so it needed to be put up in a bun on the top of my head. Scorpius said it looked wildly sexy in its mess, but I didn't want to be too obvious with what we had been up to, even though at the same time I really did – yet, his hair was enough.

We were fashionably late to the game. It was a bit of a reality check being back with lots of people around us. I didn't like it; I half wished we could have stayed at the tree. Even though that would have been dangerous, for many reasons.

"So Moose Jaw Meteorites – kind of the diamond in the rough. Never really paid enough attention to them before," I said after we made a small donation at the door and found some empty seats near the middle of the pitch. The game was underway, score 50-10 for Meteorites, and the stands were pretty full.

Scorpius had the game brochure in his hands and was reading up on the team. "Yeah, from Canada. Some province called Sask – Saschew – well, a word I don't know. Look – it's literally a rectangle." Enclosed in the brochure was a map for the poor Brits who didn't know their geography. I only briefly glanced because games were infinitely more interesting than reading. And there were some great players on the pitch.

"But yes," Scorpius said, looking up "Those Chasers are so technically beautiful. Those passes, and bloody hell they know how to shoot." And the Meteorites just scored again, as if to prove his point.

I nodded. "Did you see female Beater?" I leaned over Scorpius to read her name. "Gaëlle Tellier. I want to be her when I grow up. New life goals. There's not many women Beaters who play professional Quidditch – but when there is … _Damn_. So amazing."

"I'm really surprised that they didn't place better in the League Cup. They had a decent season, but lost in the playoffs right away."

The players on the pitch were zipping back and forth quickly and Scorpius and I found ourselves cheering for the Meteorites. By having an Aunt who had played on the Harpies, I was familiar with the team and had watched many games (even met the Keeper Holly Terebano at a Christmas party one year). So they weren't as much as a novelty, as I knew all their stats, players, and history. Plus the Meteorites were from Canada, and I've never been, but did want to go. So it was kind of cool to see them play.

Since it was a charity game, instead of a catch of a Snitch to end the game – it was two 45 minute halves, and whoever had the highest score at the end won. If you caught the Snitch, there was cheering and celebration and 150 points added – but game would resume. These resulted in high scoring games. But were some of the most exciting to watch – especially in the last ten minutes when teams were trying to get ahead and had to think of strategies for Snitch capture or regular points to win.

Unfortunately, the Meteorites Seeker hadn't caught the Snitch once, while Harpies caught it twice. The Meteorites were still in the game however, because they scored on almost any chance they got. By the time the game ended, the score was 410 – 320 for the Harpies.

"Do you think they're doing any signings afterwards? I really want to meet Tellier."

"Didn't hear anything. Might have to go to Moose Jaw, Canada, and see if you can find her there."

"Ha. Don't tempt me," I said and elbowed his side. "But that is certainly a weird name for a town. I'm interested now, maybe I will eventually."

We waited a few minutes to avoid the large crowd filing out of the stands, just sitting and laughing and talking, our legs stretched out next to each other. The sun still shone down on us with its intense rays, and I swear my legs got more freckled by the exposure. But the flip side would be sweating out of skin with pants.

By the time we strolled out of the stands, there were only a few large groups of people chatting outside the pitch. The beer gardens just adjacent looked very full, with everyone slowly heading there. Beer gardens never beat out curry in my opinion. There looked to be a few familiar faces far away that I squinted to see. As soon as I could make out their features I whipped my head back forward and didn't mention anything to Scorpius. It was two girls from school. My heart started racing, even though I thought that was such a lame reaction. I never cared what they thought, or _tried _not to at least. But there was another variable in here that I didn't know about and it was Scorpius. I wasn't sure what Scorpius would do – they weren't friends per se, but him talking with them wasn't as weird as him talking with me.

I don't know if they had spotted us, but I didn't look back and tried to pick up our walking pace a little bit. It didn't work.

They weren't girls who I ever really liked at school, but they were gossipers and not always very nice, especially to someone like me who cared more about Quidditch than hair, and friends than boys. Hamideh was in my house and actually tried out for the Quidditch team in Fifth Yeah during my first year as Captain. Suffice to say when I didn't put her on the team she took it as a personal affront. Taliso and I also didn't have a great relationship. I had accidentally spilled a goblet of pumpkin juice over her in Third Year when she was just garnering attention for her looks. Seeing them both together was surely a bad omen.

Scorpius seemed blissfully unaware, until (to my surprise because I sure as hell wasn't looking back), a voice from behind us said, "Scorpius? Weasley? You're both here _together_?"

To his credit, he didn't jump as high as I did. He whipped around and I just stayed looking forwards, cursing, cursing, cursing my bad luck. We weren't ready for this. Hadn't even discussed anything about school. Were we going to pretend we had never met and went out together to keep up pretenses when we were in front of our peers? Were we going to try and be friends? Were we going to continue jinxing one another until the end of time? Or even ignore each other, because it was super weird we got along all of a sudden?

I didn't know.

And I wish I did. For I really wasn't prepared.

"Hey … Hamideh and Tally. How are you both?"

Scorpius was obviously more eloquent than I. I turned around slowly with a half grin, half grimace, really unsure of what I wanted my face to reveal.

"You two aren't here _together_ … are you? I'm surprised Weasley isn't sprouting feathers or something?" Taliso was directing that at Scorpius and I just smiled pleasantly like I actually wanted to be there.

Scorpius shrugged and simply said, "Yes we're here together. And Rose isn't really a feathers type of woman."

She had raised her eyebrows at the use of my first name and then her eyebrows rose even higher to go under her bangs when he finished speaking. I, apparently, was completely ignored. "That's true, I guess, I've never seen Weasley more attractive than when she had tentacles and was rolling down the stairs. I don't know if it's in your best interest, Malfoy, to be seen with her."

If anything, I turned red. Before I could unleash a wicked defense of myself (Scorpius slightly stepped in front of me and gripped my hand). He intervened with a smirk. "Oh? I've certainly seen her more attractive." He ran his hand through his hair and rose an eyebrow in a very suggestive manner. Hamideh's eyes widened and shot to our intertwined hands. Scorpius continued, "But it actually is within my best interest to be seen with her, thanks very much. We'll see you at school."

Before we could walk away, Taliso got a calculating look in her eyes. "Hmm, there's been some interesting developments this summer indeed," she said. I had no doubt that by this time tomorrow at least half of our class would know that both Scorpius and I were together in public not blowing each other up. "Well, I will be monitoring this and be the first to say 'I told you so,' Malfoy. Cheers."

We started wandering back to the main street. There was this weird air of tension between us now that I didn't know how to deal with. Well I did. We needed to talk and decide what we wanted to do. My blush gradually faded the further we walked in our silence. Soon we were back on the main street and I had to at least say something now.

"Well, they barely looked at me through the entire conversation. I didn't realise I was that transparent."

"You're not. She's just a bitch. Doesn't really care about anyone other than herself." I frowned at Scorpius. His eyes were furrowed and his jaw was clenched. He was angry. I mean yeah, she was a rude and superficial person. But calling someone a bitch was a bit harsh – and reciprocated being mean. It did him no good to sink down to their level. I felt like I had to defend the girls somewhat since they were no longer here, even though they had completely vilified me.

"Hamideh isn't that bad when she's on her own."

I couldn't describe the look upon his face at that moment – some harsh façade of what usually was present. Standing next to him in this moment felt like standing in a field in the middle of a storm - charged and dangerous. But then, he took it too far, with that dark look in his eyes. "Well, she's a bit of a slut anyway. Got around this summer apparently, according to Arjun."

Arjun was one of his good friends from school, but the name slipped through my head and my ears went fuzzy.

My legs were moving before my mind could process. "What are you … ?" Scorpius said.

"I'm leaving. Bye."

I was moving fast, seeing only a flash of Scorpius's surprised face, feeling like I couldn't breathe, and my ears were stuffed with water. Scorpius might have called my name, or maybe not. He might have followed, but maybe not. It wasn't until I turned the corner that I was able to take a deep gulp of air in, putting my hands on my knees, and breathe.

What a fool I was.

Delusions shattered in that instant. It was like diving seamlessly into a lake, and the temperatures is perfect, there's no weeds or rocks near you, and you didn't get water in your nose. And then you get to the surface and realise this wasn't the place you originally dived it. Nothing is familiar.

I was struggling to recognise my surroundings and process all the thoughts that were occurring lightning quick.

"Rose? What are you doing?" He must have followed me.

I straightened up and started walking, not looking back. Scorpius must have trailed like a lost puppy, because there's no other way it could have looked.

"Rose? I'm sorry, for whatever it was that happened. I was just angry at the two girls and myself."

I whirled around on the spot instantly and then found myself sitting on the brickwork on the ground, a bit dazed. I just bounced off of Scorpius. He pulled me up before I could really protest and then we were centimetres apart, his gaze staring me down, intent on knowing what I thought.

I shoved him and took a step back. "Yes it was something you said. You called Hamideh a slut – "

"That wasn't me," he interjected. "That was Arjun."

"But you repeated it! Do you know how many times I've heard Hamideh crying at night in the bloody dorm? Who cares if she's slept with 100 people, 10 people, 1 person, or none. It's her body. Her choice. If she's slept with 100 our only concern should be that she's having safe sex. No – scratch that – we have no concerns because it isn't _any_ of our business. There's such a double standard between men and women and I hate it. Why do we constantly have to bring women down in our society? It's horrible and outright bullying!"

Scorpius made a face. His rage had all faded, but mine had blossomed. "I don't care how many people she's slept with."

I continued. "Why can't we focus on the talents and amazing characteristics of people, instead of constantly degrading them, and making them feel horrible about themselves? Like Hamideh, she's utterly phenomenal at playing piano. _Utterly phenomenal_. And she usually writes her own sheet music! Sure she can't catch a snitch to save her life, insults every second person she comes across, and has had a few sexual partners, but she's so much more than that."

Scorpius looked dumbstruck. "I didn't know that."

I took a large breath and looked at my feet for a moment. We even had matching brown sandals to go with our similarly coloured outfits. This was crazy. There was so much connection, but yet, disconnection. "I'm sorry. It's not just you. It's everyone's obsession at Hogwarts and it's the rumour mill and I hate it and am so tired of hearing people cut down others and hating on women … And I really don't want to surround myself with people who do that …"

I left the sentence hanging, but Scorpius didn't really say anything.

He was such a fantastic guy. And regardless of what I said after the Quidditch League Cup, or to anyone, I wasn't going to pursue someone who put down women, directly or indirectly.

I left Scorpius standing on the brickwork and turned my back on him, walking away.

I was way past the ice cream parlour I had initially flooed into, but I really wasn't ready to turn back right now and walk by Scorpius. So I continued deeper into the little wizarding hamlet, taking a left here, and a right there. Walking was soothing and the nice weather made it easy to let the anger melt off my face. I wasn't ready to relay what happened to Hugo, and have his I-don't-care-but-still-am-interested-and-that-sucks-I-knew-you-were-being-weirdly-weird-let's-just-meditate-and-do-yoga-instead attitude. I knew Dad was going to ask and wasn't prepared for his remarks either, which were usually very anti-men, and you're-not-allowed-to-date-until-you're-35-you're-still-my-little-girl-and-the-Malfoy's-can-eat-dirt-(I-told-you-so).

It really made me miss my Mom though. She passed away six years ago, and it was the hardest thing my family has ever gone through. I missed her guidance for my billions of questions, her kisses before bed, when she took me to the bookstore, or for a walk outside. I missed her happiness, and her curly hair that I had learned to braid. I wished I could just sit with her for an afternoon and ask all the questions about growing up that I had learned from cousins, aunts, and grandparents when my Dad fumbled with his words or was busy with work.

I wish I could ask her if I was right, and if she was proud of me, even though my marks were dropping and I wanted to be out of school. I wanted to know if I acted too rashly sometimes, and broke too many mugs, tripped over too many stones, and stood up for the wrong people. It felt like I was struggling to stay afloat in the never-ending flux of tide called life. Sinking and then swimming. Finding a buoy only to find it out of my reach.

There was a nice patch of grass at the edge of town with a few white papery birch trees and some red flowers splattered in the grass. I sat down, leaning against the birch and pulled my knees up to rest my chin on them. I thought about my mother still, and about Scorpius, and people at Hogwarts, and about life and what I was going to navigate it.

It didn't miss my eye that Scorpius was coming up the street with a slow tread with his hands in his pockets. He spotted me and made his way over to the birch tree across from me, sitting down to face me. He leaned back and laid his long legs out in front of him. It was a very open position and so I couldn't help but bring my knees down and sit cross legged with my feet under my knees.

"Alright," he started. "I understand completely your point. It was wrong of me to repeat a flippant comment made by Arjun and I'm sorry I did. I don't have any problem with how many partners someone has had."

I nodded my head and looked at him. "I'm sorry I got a bit dramatic. It's just a frustration I have and I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

"I shouldn't have said it. And I shouldn't have gotten as angry as I did. Those two … they really frustrate me. They live off of gossip and rumours, and I know when we go back to school there's going to be some stupid and maybe nasty things floating around."

I had no argument with that. It was true. "We can't sink down to their level." He nodded and I continued talking. "I'm _also_ sorry that I held you to such high expectations in my mind."

"What expectations?"

If I hadn't just been thinking about my mom, I probably would have blushed, but my emotions were pretty depressed and chill.

"I'll probably describe this wrong, but I kind of made you into this perfect guy in my head – noble, charismatic, chivalrous, _handsome_, and everything. But it's not real. There's no such thing as perfection and I _know _that first hand. So it was wrong of me to expect that for you. Reality is so much more complex and I essentially made you into a caricature and got mad when you broke out of it."

He picked one of the red flowers and twirled it between his fingers for a bit before tucking it behind his ear. It made me think of his camera and it would have been a great picture. His solemn face, and tangled hair. The bright flower. It would be inappropriate to ask for it at this moment, I felt, so I stayed quiet.

"Reality _is_ more complex," he eventually said. "I always try to do my best. But am nowhere near perfect. Perfect is highly subjective and doesn't exist."

And wasn't that the truth. "Sorry for wrecking this ... whatever it is."

"I'm sorry, also, for wrecking this date. Let's call it what it is. The first one was more of an I.O.U but, we are out again. Purely for … enjoyment or whatever – unless, you don't want them to be dates."

I threaded my fingers together in my lap, grinned, and cocked an eyebrow at him. "It's okay Scorpius darling. I think you're pretty fly too. We'll call it what it is. A date."

"Is it too presumptuous of me to ask if you still want curry?"

"No, I need some burn-your-tail-feathers-off curry to jump start me. Let's go rectify this day."

He helped me up from the tree, and tucked the red flower behind my ear before kissing my cheek and squeezing me hard in a hug. It was the little things that got my heart beating faster. He readied his wand for apparition and I couldn't help but think about the future. Hogwarts would be hard, yes, but my mind went further ahead. If somehow we didn't end up hating each other by the end of the year then maybe we actually would have a shot. Maybe.

That was a long ways away, and there were so many obstacles we would have to get through first before then. I was a hopeful person though, so I felt like we could beat the odds.

* * *

_A/N: So this story(?) is happening. Kind of intended it be these connected one-shots when I get an idea, but then I changed the 'complete' designation to 'incomplete'. So I don't really know long it will continue for; maybe just one more long part, or maybe this is the end. However, I do have two questions if anyone would oblige me:_

_a) Do a few longer chapters work for this? Or would more smaller chapters be preferred?_

_b) What houses do you think R&amp;S would fit into? I have deliberately not put anything because I'm not sure haha (not that it's important right now, but if I continue I know it will need to be mentioned at one point)_


	4. Chapter 4

The train ride to Hogwarts was definitely one of my favourite aspects about the whole Hogwarts experience, especially after a summer had gone by. Mostly it was because of all the physical changes that people had gone through: longer hair, shorter hair, taller, deeper voices, and just the sheer happiness of friends reconnecting after time spent away.

"Jay! Kia!" I yelled through the throngs of people in the narrow corridor of the train, pushing students out of my way and leap frogging over their trunks. I wound one arm around each of their shoulders and pulled them in close for a hug. They were sisters in my house now in Fifth and Sixth Year, and two of the chasers on my Quidditch team. "My two _favourite_ Capricorns. You both are looking fantastic. How was the break?"

"We're not Capricorns," Kia muttered, face still mashed into my collarbone.

Jay, the younger one, was probably the feistiest girl you'd ever meet and gave me a hug that threatened to pop my ribs, even though I was essentially still suffocating her. "Rose I can do 15 pullups now!"

Kia pulled her face away from my armpit so she could talk. "And she won't shut up about it. Break was good though. For the most part." Her voice became resigned. "Jay can run farther than me, faster than me, and also do more pull ups than me. So there's that."

I couldn't help but grin. "Awh, KitKat. Don't worry. Our first few practices back will get you right back in peak condition."

Kia groaned (obviously having vivid memories of my exciting practices from the last two years) while Jay clapped her hands with a somewhat evil grin that seemed to say '_bring it on_.' The two were polar opposites sometimes. Looked basically identical with their glossy brown hair, similar facial structures, and brown eyes, but Jay was on a permanent cheering charm while Kia had been smacked by a reality check at a young age.

My next victim was Tamook, sitting in a carriage near the beginning of the train that I had completely overlooked while I was stalking the sisters. He was a Beater last year with me when he was in First Year. Most of the school considered it risky that I picked him, but he showed amazing potential for someone so young. What was even crazier was that he was a muggleborn and took to flying like a moth to a light. He had played baseball growing up – so his accuracy and precision with using a bat were well developed. Last year had put a lot more pressure on me to make sure I could cover our positions. Of course, it was risky putting an 11 year old on a Quidditch team, but I was confident enough in my own abilities as a Beater, and the rest of my team's abilities to help teach him and keep him safe (as safe as a Beater could be during a full-scale match).

He was sitting with two of his Slytherin friends and a Gryffindor. I invited myself into the compartment with a poorly-timed avalanche of sneezes and squeezed in between Tamook and Cintia, the sole Gryffindor, after my sinuses had calmed down. I had an expressed interest in Tamook so all his friends were well acquainted with me (especially because Jon the history whiz helped me with History homework). They all greeted me, and then Hannah pulled out her knitting to show me, to which I told her about Hugo's lumpy dinosaur project over the summer. She was a much better knitter than Hugo.

"So how was the summer?" I asked Tamook after we had discussed knitting and Fortescue the calico cat (Cintia's new kitten who had jumped on my lap). "Get in some training?"

He had certainly grown since last year – not by puberty's standards that I was expecting in two years, but a notable five or more centimeters.

"Yes. Lots of baseball with friends. And eating vegetables. Protein. Carbs. Just like you said. It was good."

I ruffled his wiry black hair and he made a face at me. I basically treated him like my little brother, and he already had two older siblings, to which he reminded me about all the time as a very obvious hint (I ignored it). "Glad to hear! Wait until you see some of the new drills I'm pulling out this year. The other Houses won't know what hit them" I paused. Waiting to see if he caught on. Hannah and Jon were the only ones who smiled. "… Pun intended Tamook … It's okay to laugh if your Captain is being ridiculous ..."

He was a serious lad, and needed a reminder that I wasn't a dictator. Even if I yelled sometimes during games or practice.

The last member of the team wasn't difficult to find. I followed the loud noises of laughter from about midway down the train. I found Jimmy-boy amidst a large group of Fifth Years like him. He had brown skin and thick, straight black hair that reached his shoulders. He was as languid about his sexuality as a fifteen year old could be, flirting with boys, girls, and grumpy cats. He spoke five languages and could swear in eight. Which was slightly annoying because he swore all the time in practice (I thought – though I couldn't _really_ get mad at him because I wasn't entirely sure it actually _was _swearing. I could only speak English, French, and a splattering of Troll when I was angry). I wasn't sure what he thought of me as a Captain. Regardless of his flimsy mood, I found he seemed to have a grudging respect for me - which was all I cared about.

His group had an open door policy with the train carriage, so I leaned against the door frame watching him interact. He was the centre of attention, as usual, with an arm around two girls in his year and everyone turned towards him. He eventually noticed me standing there.

"Hey Captain! Long time no see."

"Jimmy-boy, I see you survived Croatia and all the beautiful beaches. What did you get up to there?"

"Oh, you know. Picking up babes." The girl beside him elbowed his stomach. I just gave him a look, like '_Ha ha you're_ so_ funny. _Not_. So seriously, what did you get up to because you are sometimes insufferable and I don't want to give you pushups only an hour into the train ride_.'

"I'm kidding Captain," he continued. "I went jogging in the mornings, was sure to do 100 push-ups and sit-ups each night. I ate all my broccoli and cauliflower, and I avoided pizza on Wednesdays."

A few of his friends snickered at that. I rolled my eyes. "Alright Jimmy-boy. We'll see you on the pitch then and I hope you're prepared. We're doing a conditioning camp again before tryouts. Every time I lap you it's 20 burpees."

He groaned so loudly that I was sure they could hear it back in London. "Awwwh Captain. Why do Hufflepuffs always have to be so gung-ho about training right off the bat?"

I raised my eyebrow and grinned. He was fun to rile up a little. "It's actually for all the Houses this year. I've been in contact with the other Captains and we're going to whip all interested players in shape before tryouts. So, not just me this year, lucky you_._ You'll have three times the fun."

Last year I set up a conditioning camp for any players in my House that were interested in trying out for Quidditch during the first week of school. They didn't have to do the camp to come to the actual tryouts and make the team, but it was _highly_ recommended to the point where I had to drag Jimmy-boy down to the pitch by his ear to get him to show up. It was my personal project to get people start exercising, right off the bat, because regardless of how many people tried to stay in shape over the summer, nobody ever really put any effort into it and everyone suffered at the real tryouts. There was a few interested Slytherin and Ravenclaw players that I let join last year in the spirit of the game, so this year I decided to collaborate with the other Captains to do a school wide conditioning camp.

Jimmy-boy finally unwrapped his arms from the girls beside him as he groaned loudly again. "You kill me sometimes Cap'," he said. "I might as well start doing burpees now, because it's going to be bad." Of the whole team from last year, Jimmy-boy would be the one who would really benefit from my camp since he always did diddly-squat in the summers. He was cleverly lazy – and found loopholes to get out of tasks. He was the Keeper for our team and was excellent at what he did, but suffered from never knowing when to shut up. Nonetheless he was the silly-putty to our party, and usually provided the needed comic relief (though I would never, ever, _ever_ admit it to him). My team meshed well and team dynamics and overall mentality, to me, could make or break a team more than physical fitness and skill.

"That's the spirit! Your enthusiasm is appreciated," I said while only being slightly sarcastic. I pointed to a small blonde girl sitting on the floor by the window. She was the Ravenclaw seeker. "Jasmine will be joining you so you both can suffer together."

Jasmine was entirely too serious for Jimmy-boy and I, and just flipped the page of the magazine she was reading without acknowledging what I said.

Jimmy-boy put his hand on his heart and looked up at the roof. "You're lucky I'm in a good mood. Want to play a round of Snapdragon? I need to beat you at something to boost my ego before you whoop my arse in the camp."

I accepted and his crew made room for me on the seats. I tended to lose more than win at card games because of my short attention span and nonchalance about the rules, but I enjoyed the innocent and fun nature of Jimmy-boy and all his friends. I did end up losing every game I played, to which I didn't care because it did make Jimmy-boy supremely happy. However, losing meant that my fingers were constantly being bitten by the little snapdragons and they were now covered in little red bite marks that would sting for a few hours. A small price to pay, I thought.

During the game, this weird feeling was growing inside me, ballooning larger and larger and threatening to take over my body. It was what laid dormant all summer: just watered down embers instead of the current bonfire. It was simply happiness – this state of being in a place I was comfortable, of doing what I loved, of joking and chatting with my teammates. I always associated Hogwarts with the negatives of schoolwork, and long nights cursing in the libraries wishing I wasn't there, but I had forgotten _this_ part of Hogwarts. Belonging to a group that I was passionate about. Learning from them, joking with them, and teaching them. Trying to foster positive growth in my players in my position of authority – and failing about half the time with Jimmy-boy.

Contrary to all previous thoughts and conversations I was kind of glad I was heading back to Hogwarts, and of course that thought made me want to go find Scorpius to share my revelations.

* * *

After my fingers had more tiny bite marks than freckles I knew it was time to make my leave-way. We were a few hours into the train ride and when I re-entered the train corridor it was empty now. Jimmy-boy rounded out my returning players this year. I was looking for a Chaser and a Seeker – not that any of my returning players just got their spot handed to them on a platter. They still had to prove they were the best and remake the team. But I was confident in them all.

The happy feeling in my chest continued to grow at the thoughts of Quidditch this year. My fantastic team were all here. Two new players. There were a few potentials last year that I hoped would try out again.

I wandered through the corridor of the train, observing all the friends and cliques of Hogwarts, waving to the odd person, blowing a kiss here, tripping on a carpet design there, and shooting a thumbs up to everyone who didn't look away. I passed Hugo and Lily in a compartment together with a few of their friends. Lily finally looked like she had returned to earth from her weird philosophical fit. She had a guitar out and was strumming on it. Normal Lily was fantastic and excellent at playing guitar.

Scorpius was near the back where almost all the Seventh Years were sitting. I just really wanted to talk to him and tell him that he was right about school, so I didn't think much of it when I opened the door to him sitting with his friends; namely one Arjun, Cricket, and Gertie. Cricket had been Cricket for so long, I couldn't even remember his real name. Even the professors called him that. He was the first who reacted (besides the stunned looks on Arjun and Gertie). His wand whipped out and he shot some sort of air blasting spell at me that completely knocked me back and off my feet. I hit the doorframe hard with my back and fell to the floor.

"Cricket!" Scorpius yelped. "Merlin's pants!"

Gertie was quick to put up a_ Protego_ between us, and Scorpius was already up and standing in front of me, bending down as I groaned and straightened my back, my legs stretched out limp on the floor in front of me. If I wasn't so tough I would have been split in half.

"Nice to see you as well, Cricket," I said with a strained voice. "You certainly have a unique way of welcoming people." Scorpius put his hand out and I took it. He helped me up to the amazed eyes of everyone. Cricket still had his wand out.

"What's happening?" Gertie said slowly. "Why is _her_ wand not out, and why are you willingly touching her?" It wasn't like Gertie and I were on a bad page at all. She was the Slytherin Quidditch captain and we had this weird frenemy relationship that revolved around always pairing up for classes together, since we both understood the demands of Quidditch and could work around it, involved never speaking of Scorpius or being near him together, since that was usually hazardous for me or him, and involved staying in contact during the summer discussing drills, plays, and most recently the conditioning camp.

"Oh, so the gossip hasn't reached everyone yet from Hamideh and Tally. Surprising indeed," I said. My body check with the doorframe seemed to have loosened the elastic from my hair judging from the large volume of it poofing out around my face. I sat painfully on the empty seat next to Gertie and redid it as Scorpius stood standing at attention, still wary, in front of me.

"We're friends now," Scorpius said. "Summer shenanigans is the short end of it."

"Oh fuck off. You can't trust Weasley. You turn your back on her and then get stabbed. Her wand is probably up her sleeve right now."

"You make me sound so nefarious, Cricket. It's different, I like it." Scorpius rubbed his temple. He was sort of used to me now. "But it's not like I even have my wand on me. It's either in my trunk, or with Hugo, or at home still. So I'm entirely defenseless, besides my own two fists and feet though of course."

Gertie's eyebrows were hidden under her bangs, they were so high up. Apparently she wasn't having any of this. She and I had been in a stasis every year before this, so this new friendship between me and her best friend would probably cause some chaos into the natural order of things. "Well Rose. I suppose I will see you at our meeting in fifteen minutes then." She stood up, skirted past me like I might reach out and bite her, and then left the train compartment with a quick '_what the hell_' glance at Scorpius.

"Well I didn't mean to scare you," I said to the air since Gertie was long down the corridor. Scorpius still apparently had a headache coming. But then Cricket got up without a word, frowning the whole time, and also left the vicinity. "Man, I didn't realise I had a contagious disease," I said to Scorpius and Arjun. "I'm sorry for clearing your compartment."

"They'll be back," said Scorpius. "Just a lot to take in at once – considering that on the train coming home last year I basically damned you to hell with my angry spiels."

Now that my safety wasn't as much a concern, Scorpius sat down across from me in some very attractive black jeans and a light green button up. For the first time we didn't match since I was in a beat up pair of blue trousers and a brown shirt. "Lovely to hear that. I know you always talk about my best side." I fluffed my ponytail in jest and was grinning at Scorpius. "My train ride back last year involved me burning my assignments in the loo. We differ largely in our releases apparently."

Arjun, who'd been watching us both in silence and suspicion snorted then. "What the hell happened this summer? This is surreal."

Scorpius and I both looked at each other. "Well," I started, "it was a stubby man with a megalomammoth enemy who – "

Scorpius cut me off. "It was a Quidditch game were Rose had been knocked out in a riot and I helped her back to her tent as she was entirely disposed of."

I scoffed. "I would have been fine to make my way back eventually."

"Sure," he said with a lot of skepticism, and continued, "But then we met up for lunch after that, Rose got in another situation by getting stuck in a muggle chimney. More bonding there. And then we met up a few other times as well. It was very enjoyable." His voice took on a lilt with the last sentence and my face went red.

I scowled and muttered, "Not the muggle chimney part."

Scorpius rubbed his temples again and Arjun looked very suspicious – head going quickly back and forth between us. "Well, I can already tell this year is going to be interesting. Nonetheless, I'll go find the other two."

And then it was just Scorpius and I. I looked at him. "I'm so sorry for clearing the room out. I honestly only wanted to tell you that maybe I was a little bit excited for school this year – but only the Quidditch aspect of it. Not the school, school aspect."

"That's happy news! This year won't be as ominous then. But don't worry about my friends. You didn't clear them out. I asked them all to leave."

I gave him a funny look. "They clearly all left in different states of anger and confusion only after I came in."

"Well, yes. But I asked them to leave for a few minutes."

"How could you? You didn't know I was going to randomly stop in for the first time ever in Hogwarts train history."

He got a sneaky grin on his face. "I didn't. I told them while you were in here. Anyway, how's your back? You're fidgeting an awful lot."

I sat up straighter and arched it. It cracked in a few places. "Yeaah. I don't know. It'll just bruise – I'll be fine. Slightly uncomfortable for right now though. Conditioning camp is going to be fun tomorrow evening." Merlin, everything was clicking in my back; even my shoulder blades as I rotated them.

Scorpius stood up and started rooting around in some luggage above the seats and I did my best to not look like I was checking him out. He did look very handsome today. "Funny enough, I brought bruise balm to school for the first time in my life. How weird that it would already come in handy."

"It's not weird when it's me!"

He rooted around for a few more minutes before turning back around and admitting defeat. "Maybe it's in my trunk at the back of the train. I'll find it when we get to school."

"I shall hunt you down in the Slytherin Common Room. But there's no rush. I have had bruises before you know. It's all temporary pain."

"Unnecessary temporary pain. I'll get Cricket to apologise. He usually acts first and thinks later."

I shrugged. "I'm sure he'll warm to me soon. I'm irresistible," I said with a flourish of my hand while fluttering my eyes at him. He gave me a weird look so my flirting had clearly, obviously failed.

His hair was combed nicely for the first day of school except for one piece sticking up in the back. It looked a little too neat for my liking and I wanted nothing more than to run my fingers through it again and feel how soft it was. His lips quirked up as if he could read my thoughts and my face suddenly felt like it wanted to burn off. We were alone in a train compartment. That thought suddenly hit me like a tonne of bricks and I played with the loose thread in my trousers as I peered out the window instead of looking at his face. But he wasn't saying anything so I snuck a glance over. He was staring intently at me.

"What?" I said a bit defensively.

"You really are," he said, leaning forward and putting his elbows on his knee and his chin on his hands, his eyes, his beautiful eyes, gazing at me as if I were the last pumpkin pastry on the table.

"Are what?"

"Irrestistible."

"Eew," I said and scrunched my face. "Don't stroke my ego. I'm really not at all. I mean, I haven't washed these jeans in about four weeks. And this shirt is third hand. Not to mention this bush on my head today!" I gestured to my annoying hair before resuming pulling the loose thread on my trousers again. And oh Merlin. Why would I tell him all that? For the first time since the infamous Quidditch League Cup game I was worried my face would be permanently stained red.

"Four weeks is nothing. I once wore a shirt for 65 days straight without washing it to annoy my parents. They stopped complaining after a month and a half."

"Well … that certainly beats me. What were you protesting?"

"Muggle clothing. It's much more practical than robes all the time. This, of course, was when I was about eight or nine."

"Ha. I'm sure they appreciated your stance."

He gave me a knowing look and bobbed his head on his hands, looking out the window to the rolling countryside thick with trees. "You don't even know."

"So …" I said. His face instantly turned to mine and a giggle erupted from me. "I'm sorry. I'm being lame. I don't mean to constantly bring up that word. It's just becoming a weird habit when we're together."

"A nervous habit?"

"No. Maybe? … Tiny bit? It's more like I'm gauging the situation. Like I really want to snog you – since it's been a few days," Scorpius started grinning like a maniac and I continued, "but is it appropriate with the whole world as we know it outside the door looking in ... and then I'm wondering if I'm being way to forward? Or if there's a smoother way I can make my transitions." I laughed. I was sometimes too cursed honest. "Those tend to be the line of thoughts I have when I say 'So'." Regardless of how easy that came out, my heart was pattering away in my chest at a rabbits pace.

And besides my not so discreet awkwardness at scheming to snog him, he seemed perfectly at ease and much too relaxed about it all. He slowly stood up (which caused my heart to do a backflip) and adjusted his clothing – since uncovered ankles were so scandalous. He turned around and started rooting around in his trunk again, which left me a great view of his arse again. And that I could appreciate (maybe a bit too obviously this time).

It was that moment where I was checking him out that Taliso walked past the corridor, stopped in front of our closed door, and just stared at me through the glass window. Her beady eyes saw right through me and then she was gone in the next instant.

Internally I groaned. "So, Scorpius. Added to the rumour mill might be another one about me checking you out and before you get defensive you should know it's true."

Instead of berating me or being embarrassed he just turned his head enough to wink at me. "Like what you see?"

"Ha ha. You wish. What are you looking for?"

"My wand … Peeping toms from the corridor are all very well when we're just talking, but – "

He left the sentence hanging and this time it was Hamideh who walked by awfully slow, staring into our compartment and jerking her head away when she noticed that my narrowed-eye-laser-look didn't falter. _Yeah, that's right Ham. Run far, run fast. _I would definitely be a source of gossip for the next few months. Thankfully I kept myself busy enough to stay out of it.

Scorpius found his wand and then spelled the door. "It's just an illusion, and also locked. So we can have a bit of privacy."

I bit my lip at that and looked at him, standing tall in front of me. I had made the first move; him the second. Now that we had a lot more privacy I felt bolstered suddenly by my confidence.

"Oh, an unchaperoned lady all alone with a gentleman caller? How highly inappropriate!" I said as I stood up and took a few steps towards him, grabbing the shirt around his hips, scrunching it in my hands, and pulling him towards me – and that's really all it took before we were caught up in each other.

His lips descended on mine, soft and probing, and tasting like mint. His hands were in my hair and then my hair was suddenly loose and voluminous since the elastic was now gone, and his hands were running through it and tugging at it –

He pulled away for a few seconds, leaving me gasping. "I think it was more that an unchaperoned gentleman was coerced into a corner by a complete goddess," he said as his lips kissed the tip of my nose, traced down my cheek, kissed my jawbone and then was tilting my head back so my neck was exposed.

I realised that he was correct in the fact that I had backed him into a corner. "I feel like I should contest that, but – just – don't – stop!" Merlin, it was hard to breath sometimes.

There was such a delicious pressure on my neck that was moving its way back up. Subconsciously, but a little aware of what I was doing somewhere at the back of my mind, I was playing with the buttons on Scorpius' shirt, undoing one, and then the next.

Scorpius found my lips again and I bit his lower lip gently, tugging at it as another of his buttons came undone.

"You're killing me Rose," Scorpius groaned, and then his tongue found mine and his hands were on my hips, just dipping up under my shirt – hot against my skin, his thumbs pressing into my hips, and causing goosebumps to erupt instantly. My whole body felt as if it were flashing hot and cold – like I was standing in a huge bonfire, flames flickering onto my skin, and then I'd be numb to everything, only to have it intensified the next time by the stars flashing into existence around us, and only for us.

I soon found there were no more buttons to unbutton, but my hands were pushing his shirt to the side and slipping inside to feel his warm skin. He spun us around, even though I was trying to keep control, and I was pushed back into the corner as his hands roamed more, pushing my shirt up a little higher each time on my shuddering skin.

And then for some reason I remembered how neat his hair had looked, and realised I hadn't even ventured into that territory (which really showed where my mind was preoccupied), and I was pulling him closer and ruffling it under my hands. He pressed hard against me, and I could feel every inch of him, but then we needed to fall from grace somehow, and his pressing on me pushed my back into the window frame. I couldn't help but twitch away from the wall and mutter, "Ow. Frig," under my breath as I moved my sore back into a more comfortable position on the wall. I instantly felt cold when he backed away from me, hands raised as if I was accusing him of something. My hands fell through empty air to land at my side.

"What the hell are you doing?" I said, visibly annoyed and unsatisfied.

"What? Are you okay?" His hair was finally messy and flopping over on angles on his head, his shirt was unbuttoned and hanging loosely around him, exposing his stomach and chest and strangely enough (because I don't remember doing it) red scratch marks.

I frowned. "What do you mean? I'm not okay now that you're not still snogging me senseless!"

"Your back?" He looked equally as defensive and somewhat proud or embarrassed or something as he stared at me.

"So? It's fine. Whatever."

"You just said 'ow'!"

I raised my hands to the sky. "So? I didn't mean it. Obviously it's not a huge concern considering it's just a bruise. I would much rather be occupied doing other things." I glared at him for good measure as he stood shameless before me with his chest exposed.

That was when he sighed and sat down on the bloody train seat. I felt my hackles rise and probably could have hissed. How dare he just leave me like this? "Just. What are we doing Rose? When were we going to stop? Aren't you supposed to be in a meeting? Like five minutes ago?" He looked at his watch and held it up to me.

"Who said anything about stopping? You already look like you've been shagged. I'm sure I look the same. Might as well just continue."

He rolled his head back and around in a circle, running his fingers through his hair. "You're killing me Rose … and you are injured, regardless of how much you're playing it off right now - " Now I was two seconds away from a hiss surfacing. He continued on quickly "and we're on a bloody train. It's obvious we can … _really_ connect. But if we do continue, I don't want it to be on these grimy seats, when people are already gossiping about us alone in a compartment. You know the double standards."

A low hiss finally escaped, as if I were a balloon that was slowly letting off air instead of bursting outright under pressure. "I don't understand how you can be logical right now. My mind is still struggling to process reality. "

He shrugged and started slowly buttoning up his shirt. "I mean, Cricket blasted you off your feet for stepping in here, and Gertie and Arjun are in varying states of disbelief. I'm sure half my house is ready to curse you after last year. Maybe in terms of personal safety we just take it slow."

I sat down heavily across from him, slumping down in the seat. "I think you care a bit too much about possibilities and hypothetical situations."

"I would just rather do it right than anything … because I really like you." As if my heart could take any more dramatic events in such a short period of time. This time it performed a triple front flip at his statement. "And we went from being hyper-enemies for years to friends-and-more-than-that in a few weeks. We don't really have a solid base – yet." He held up his hands in a teepee formation in front of him and moved it back and forth like a see-saw. "Without that solid base, something minor could cause the scales to tip in a direction we don't want. Especially at Hogwarts with classes, friends, houses, Quidditch … it'll all be new this year and things might change fast. It might ruin this – whatever we have right now – when we finally get to the castle and into the dragons nest."

What he was saying was finally hitting home. I wanted this to be more than a one-time thing and yes, we were already making leap and bounds from where we started. Hogwarts really was a dangerous new area with fire breathing ignoramus creatures – and we were going in blind. I'm sure despite my internal agreement my eyebrows were furrowed in thought. I looked out the window. It was probably late afternoon now judging by the sun and the shadows over the land. We would arrive in a few hours. One of my hands reached up to my head to feel the damage of my hair and it was worse than my bedhead this morning. I tugged a curl out of a knot and held it straight up in the hair, pulling slightly.

A weird noise sounded and I turned to Scorpius, only to see him tucking something black in his bag and holding a white paper in his hand.

"That's the whatchamacallit? Automatic camera thing? What did you take a picture of?"

He didn't say anything, but held it out as magically, once again, I appeared in it – from my ripped jeans at the knees, to my slouched posture, wild hair, and pulling one piece straight in the air as I looked out the window. I inspected it closely. "I do look properly sexed up. I'm actually not as frustrated as I look in the picture. It's just - you drive me crazy sometimes. In a good way. And I appreciate that." I raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged his shoulders.

I handed it back to him and he stared at it for a few moments before tucking it away in his bag. I'm sure more voodoo would be performed on it, but it didn't really matter. I didn't mind being part of his collection – he didn't seem like he'd do anything embarrassing with it at this point.

I sighed. "Well, what time was it, you said? I feel like I might be very late for a Quidditch Captains meeting." Yet despite what I said, I remained slumped in the sleep, looking back out the window.

"Ah, sorry for keeping you," Scorpius said. "It's about twenty past four." I jerked my head over to him and saw that he did not look sorry at all.

"Wish you would have kept me longer," I said saucily as he stood up tall, his shadow falling over me and gently stood on the tips of my toes, holding out his hands. I put mine in them and he tugged me up with one pull so we stood touching. This time, he kissed me slower and sweeter, lips just pressing softly against mine as our mouths moved in unison.

"Your hair looks wildly sexy right now. But in an obvious way," Scorpius said after as I was trying to finger comb it into an acceptable hairdo. "Your neck looks rather obvious as well."

My hand slapped to my neck – right where he had been occupied. That rat bastard.

"I appreciate the fact that you went out of your way to muss up my hair," I said back. I winced as my finger got caught in a knot. "_And _mark up my neck. Right before we got to Hogwarts."

"I didn't see you complaining while I was doing it," he said and my face lit up red.

"Yeah. Well it was in the moment. And it's a very sensitive area."

His hand brushed along my cheek and neck just as I was finishing my side braid. "Noted."

"Danger," I said back.

"Even better."

"Well, someone is getting oddly confident now."

He cocked an eyebrow. "With you, it's easy." I was distracted for a bit longer, and was delayed even later for my meeting. We left it at that as I left the compartment.

* * *

"Nice of you to show up," Gertie said as I found my Quidditch group lounging, with a paper explosion over every visible surface. Gertie was half laying on the floor, pen in hand as she jotted something down on the paper. She was the Slytherin Captain. The Gryffindor and Ravenclaw captains were identical twins – Li and Evan: the dynamic Vietnamese duo whose parents basically moved to England for their sons to go to Hogwarts.

"Lost track of time," I said. "Time flies when you have a good distraction."

"No comment," Gertie said back. "Especially since you have that extremely obvious hickey on your neck."

I was blushed out by this point, so I gave her the evil eye and meant to sit down on the seat next to Li – only misjudged where it was situated and fell to the floor with a small scream. And a sore tailbone.

"Ow," I moaned as I rubbed my arse. "As if I needed to hurt any other body parts." I just stayed on the floor instead of getting back up as we got straight to business and started discussing our conditioning camp. This was a school-wide collaboration and all ages were able to join – so I wasn't sure about what sort of numbers we'd get. What I did know was that at least half of the participants would drop out after the first day.

"Biggest things for me at the start of the season are physical fitness and having the stamina to outlast. Broom-work comes later after they can run a few kilometres on the ground."

"What did you do last year?" Evan asked. "Build up slowly, or start hard?"

I handed over a sheet to him and started explaining the drills we did over the first week of school last year. "How great is your physical fitness?" I asked the three Captains.

"Peak condition," said Li immediately.

"Mediocre," said Evan.

"Why do you want to know?" Gertie demanded, suddenly on edge, her eyes blazing at all of us – daring us to say what she didn't want to hear.

"Because we have to do the drills with them. There's no point being a dictator on the sidelines. If we can't do it, they can't do it," I said to her. If looks could kill, Gertie's blue eyes would have decimated me to smithereens.

"Like fuck."

Evan laughed. "Oh don't you worry Gertie; I'll be dragging your arse around that pitch. You'll finish each drill." Gertie seemed to always have a soft spot for Evan – he got away with the least amount of glares, punches to the shoulder, and mean comments.

"Ah, fuck that. Why did I agree to this again? I barely left my bed all summer."

"Wow. Sounds like you had a riveting summer."

"Fuck off Rose."

I shrugged my shoulders. "Can't help it that you didn't want to meet up to Quidditch two months ago."

"I was visiting family in Venezuela that week." She crossed her arms and pouted. I pleasantly ignored her as we continued talking Quidditch and plans for our camp.

* * *

We arrived at Hogwarts amidst a flurry of excitement, yelling, lost cats, and more. The feast went by in a flash, my rendez-vous with Scorpius when he handed over the bruise balm was over in a blink of an eye. I didn't sleep at all that night over my anxiousness at our first inter-house conditioning camp.

And then school happened. Which went something like this:

Quidditch, school, Quidditch, homework, training, detention, Quidditch, Quidditch, library, training.

My life went round and round in its usual pattern. I was up at the crack of dawn every day, before my dorm mates were awake, and was back around midnight. I managed to avoid most of the gossip that surrounded me by just being constantly busy. In classes, I partnered with Gertie and she definitely wasn't a person who gossiped about her best friend (who was Scorpius – Gertie and I could never cross that line if we wanted to maintain our relationship).

I'd talked to probably dozens of different people since then. Fallen down two sets of staircases, sprained my left wrist thrice, picked my two new players for the Quidditch team, had our team bonding event on the roof of the school, fallen asleep in the library at midnight countless times, almost got eaten by a Venomous Tentacula in Herbology, sent oodles of letters to James, Vic, Dad, and Molly, spilled a corroding potion all over my desk and the floor in Potions, squished a few too many flobberworms in Care of Magical Creatures, handed in eight assignments two weeks late, and collaborated with all my fellow Quidditch coaches about training, practices, and the possibility of a friendly tournament between magical schools at the end of the year.

I was exhausted. Seventh Year shouldn't have been so exhausting. And despite my late nights in the library I wasn't doing very well in Transfiguration and Potions, which was mostly based in theory this year. But that was partly my fault since I didn't steal Albus's supply of parchment paper until two and half weeks into school. Then before I knew it, it was the last day of September and I realised I hadn't said two words to Scorpius since the empty classroom near Gryffindor common room back when he gave me some bruise balm.

I was napping at the back of the Transfiguration classroom after I snuck in late after early morning practice. It had been lightly raining all morning, and that meant a very muddy pitch and very muddy players. I took an extra-long hot shower afterwards and ended up missing breakfast – along with the start of class.

It was the type of napping where my head was resting in in one of my hands, but I had my quill in the other as if I was actually awake. My head was looking downwards, just to be safe, with my curtain of wet hair as a cover. McGonagall was a sneaky bat who had caught me numerous times, but in my last year of school I basically mastered the trick.

Suddenly there was a sharp jab in my ribcage from the right. Enough of a jab that it propelled my head away from its hand rest, and I was suddenly off balance while still in that half-asleep mode and fell off the chair to land on the floor with a thud. I pushed my hair off my face and was about to make a pointed comment to Gertie who obviously was the one who poked me off my chair, when I saw McGonagall standing behind her.

"Oh hell," I said under my breath.

"I'll see you tonight at 8 for detention, Ms. Weasley. I trust you can stay awake for the rest of the class now."

She was severe, old, and merciless. She had more lines on her face than I could even count, yet she was one of my favourite teachers. Maybe just for the fact that I had seen her soft side a few times. Today was not one of them.

I scrambled back on my chair. "Tonight at 8 sounds lovely. I'll see you then." Her look grew more severe.

"Education is not a joke, Ms. Weasley, and neither is sleeping in class when you are already behind, or detentions when you are already busy."

With a sweep of her cape (wings - she is a bat, I'm telling you!) she turned back to the front of the room.

Gertie muttered under her breath to me. "You were snoring. Rather loudly."

"What!" I hissed. "Why didn't you wake me?"

"Because I was sleeping too, and didn't really realise it until McGonagall was right there!"

I grumbled and then had to hold my eyes open for the rest of the class because I was so tired. Gertie went right back to sleep. I guess not everyone can be blessed with the genes of poor timing for snoring. My stomach was gurgling so loudly at that point that I ran to the kitchens for food before Defence class (which meant that I would once again be late, since Defence was on the fifth floor of the school).

And alright, I knew where the trick steps were. Everyone knew where they were. But in between my zombie-like stature right now and scarfing down food, my brain just seemed to forget those simple facts and I sunk down to my knee in one somewhere between the second and third floor.

"Bloody hell. I guess I won't be making Defence class then," I said out loud to myself and then looked around. The whole place was empty, except for some portraits on the wall tisking at me as they had their morning cuppa. It was times like this that made me realise Hogwarts could be deathly quiet regardless of its large student population. I'd been caught in enough trick steps that I knew it was pointless trying to get out by myself.

To top it off, classes had just started so I was in for the long haul in a completely empty area. The portraits on the wall and the moving staircase didn't provide enough of a distraction to keep me awake and it was a struggle to keep my eyes open. I curled up as best as I could and just started napping. Shameless I tell you. How low was my life?

A bright blue cat pouncing on my face was what woke me up not even a few minutes later. I lightly swatted at it.

"Cat! I'm trying to sleep. If you want to be useful you should go get help. Or just let me sleep in peace … "

A voice interrupted my thoughts. "He did bring help, funnily enough. I don't know how you can nap in such an uncomfortable place," said Scorpius. I cracked an eye open and stuck out my tongue. "Do you want some help?" he asked.

"Why aren't you in Defence right now?"

"Thought I'd skive class and take a gander around the school."

"You? Skip class? Say what!"

He grinned and offered his hand to pull me upright. "Gertie mentioned how you were headed to the kitchens for food and I wanted to intercept you because I haven't talked to you in a few weeks."

"Why is Gertie gossiping with you? She broke one of our golden rules."

"Golden rules?"

"Golden rules for how two Quidditch Captains from opposing houses can be civil. Now, are you going to get me out of this step or what?"

"I will. Are you going to go to Defence then afterwards?

I eyed him up. "Not if you have a good reason to skip. Or a bad one. Doesn't matter. Defence is one of the classes I'm actually doing well in right now, so it's alright."

"Let's go to the Whomping Willow then," he said. I'd barely started to question him when his arms tucked under my knees and around my shoulders and he swooped me off my feet into his arms. It was oddly thrilling and intimate considering that was the first time I'd ever experienced it. My hands were looped around his neck and our faces were really close.

"Hi," I said a bit breathless. His green eyes twinkled at me.

"Hi."

"Why haven't we talked sooner? It's almost October."

"I have no reasonable excuses. You have a lot of freckles on your face."

I scowled at him, still up in his arms. "If you're only noticing now you are as blind as a bat."

"Did you know that bats aren't actually blind?"

"Then I reiterate my statement to stay that you are as blind as a naked mole rat."

"They're not blind either," he said with a smile and started walking down the steps. My arms tightened around his neck, fingers wantonly playing with the wispy blonde hair at the back of his head.

"Alright, you've got me then. And what are you doing? I'm not that light – my life is basically flashing in front of my eyes right now!" If anything he loosened his hold on me as he continued to descend.

"So dramatic Rose. Give me some credit, I'm pretty strong. And you're not that heavy. Yes, you're an athlete – but not _that _heavy."

"Such romantic talk coming from you." I kissed his cheek. "I love being called an athlete. It makes me feel like a real one."

He raised his eyebrows. "Rose, you _are _a real one. You've organised your conditioning camp for two years in a row and even collaborated with all the houses to get players out. You hold free Quidditch practices once a week for people who want to learn how to play the game, or just get better at flying. You're trying to bring some international schools here for a cross-school competition. You run every day around the lake unless you have practice. There's no denying it at all."

My heart swelled a few sizes at that and my toes curled involuntarily. "Has anyone ever told you you're a charmer?"

"Most women take offense when I call them 'not that heavy.'"

I couldn't help it, and roared with laughter at him. Merlin, how true was that.

He finally set me down when we finished our descent and we went outside into the beautiful greenery of the Hogwarts courtyard. The sky was so blue I felt like I could drink it. I raised my hands upwards and stretched. I loved days that started out dreary and then did a 180 degree flip to sun and sky.

"Why can't we have classes outside today! It's so beautiful. Ugghhhh, school." I could see a class of midgets (probably Third Years) huddled around the backside of Hagrid's Hut for class, and the Herbology greenhouses looked full for morning classes. They were my two favourite classes as they both dealt in hands-on work, like Defence, and they were the classes I did the best in.

We eventually found ourselves in front of the Whomping Willow, who was as innocent as playing a game of hide-and-seek with Medusa. But the swaying limbs of the willow were worse than a hair full of snakes because the limbs could decapitate you without a second thought, whip your body through the air at accelerations equalling 7 G's, and catapult your limp body to the lake to sink to the bottom, never to be found again.

And yet here we were, sitting in front of it.

"This is what I propose," he started. "Life and school are busy. You with all your Quidditch. Me with my advanced NEWT classes and student groups. But even so, we should get together at least once a month and just do an activity, or date, or anything really. Otherwise we're going to blink and it'll be June and we probably wouldn't have enjoyed the year as much as we could."

"I think that sounds reasonable. I can do at least once a month. Probably more if we can schedule it in."

He nodded. "But it has to be unrelated to anything school … I will eventually be seeing you for Transfiguration help so that doesn't count."

My mouth dropped. "McGonagall?"

"Yeah she approached me earlier this week to ask."

I shook my head. I said she was my favourite teacher (bat) – but when she pulled stunts like asking smart students to tutor me it really hurt her street cred. "I'll deal with her in a bit. So Whomping Willow in September. We're doing what? Enjoying the view of this ancient species?"

Scorpius turned serious (and that somehow meant adjusting his collar as well). "Somewhere under those flailing limbs and in the willow's root system is a knot on a root. That knot freezes the tree so we can access the tunnel under its roots. And that tunnel leads to the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade."

I face-palmed. He had a death wish. I had heard about the tunnel from old stories, but assumed it had been filled in and it had never really occurred to me to attempt it. "Let me guess, you want to find it."

His face lit up as he started talking about some of the history of it – of ghouls and Hogsmeade, of werewolves, of the Dark Idiot, and on and on. And then it hit me that my parents had done this. They'd traversed this tunnel and went to the Shrieking Shack. They had found the knot under the tree. My _mum_ probably stood close to this exact spot, contemplating how to get through the tree, or if to follow. She'd been to the Shrieking Shack! I looked back at the Whomping Willow. Hadn't my Dad crashed his car in it? It was something I knew my whole life, but didn't connect those dots to_ this_ school, _this_ tree.

I scuffed the grass with me feet and looked at Scorpius with an appreciation – even though I was questioning how he ever came up with the idea. My exhaustion from the morning was gone, filled with an increasing anticipation. To do this. To do this with Scorpius. Relive a piece of my parent's history. To enjoy this beautiful weather outside instead of being in a stuffy classroom.

"I've been scouting out the tree for a while and I think if we do quick sprints in and out we might get lucky. And if you were up for an adventure … "

I was already pulling off my robe and tie, unbuttoning the top few buttons on my shirt. I rolled up my sleeves and pant legs, kicked off my trainers and socks and felt the grass under my bare feet - the best way to feel grass. The perpetual elastic around my wrist went straight to my wet hair to hold it back. "I'm always up for an adventure."

Scorpius likewise followed my undressing scheme.

A thought occurred to me. "So, you said once a month. I have an idea for October. And if we wanted it to be scarier I suppose we could say Halloween …"

"What are you referring to?"

"If we find this tunnel, let's camp out in the Shrieking Shack. And before you start saying anything about ghouls and werewolves – the Shack should be sitting empty now. Halloween or not, it would be fun in its own way. And you in no way can be more scared than I would be." I spoke big now, but would probably be shaking more frantically than a leaf in a hurricane when the day arrived.

He took his time rolling up his pant legs. I set our shoes next to one another in the grass, lining them up. His were so much larger than mine, it actually looked ridiculous. He looked up at me with a smirk. "I think that's a great idea. But only if you come sit with me during lunch this week." I made a face at him - I was usually a eat and dash type of person.

"Only if you let me try a new jinx I found on you."

"Only if you come to every Transfiguration lesson that I plan," was his rebuttal. I scowled.

"That's dirty. Unfair. But only if we decorate gingerbread houses before Christmas. _And_ you have to buy the ingredients."

"Only if you come over for supper over the holidays." He was quick with his answers and so I started rapid firing as well.

"Only if you try one of Hugo's evening yoga classes at Hogwarts and Vic's over Christmas."

"Only if you come to Hogsmeade with me first week of November."

"Only if we have a snowball fight in winter."

"Only if you come to the Slytherin party when it's my birthday."

"Only if you send Albus a singing valentine in February dressed up as a cherub and come over for supper at Easter break."

Scorpius finally paused to put his hand on his chin, rubbing his few whiskers and just thinking. He stuck out his hand. "Deal."

I put mine in his and he pulled me in for a quick kiss.

The Whomping Willow swayed behind us, as if she knew what was coming. She has seen enough student antics over the years. I was happy to be the next generation of my family to cause it to stir.

_I, _blessed with zero foresight unlike the swaying Willow, definitely knew what was coming: a fantastic school year. A year to top all years (as long as I passed my classes). A year unlike any previous years for me. And I was so excited.

* * *

_La fin_

* * *

A/N: Thanks so much for your suggestions and reviews :) Much appreciated! And I do believe we have reached the end of our story here. 'Til next time!


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